Persona 3: A Fool Named Fortune
by MagnusRagnar
Summary: Same old Persona 3 with a Lusnati Style-inspired twist. Find out what happens when Roy Fortune ends up with the Wild Card and fights his way through Tartarus.
1. Ah Japan

DISCLAIMER TO PREVENT LAWSUIT: Persona 3 and related characters are property of Atlus. Roy Fortune is mine, though, so NO STEALING.

* * *

Ah, Japan. I've kinda missed this place. I say 'kinda' because I lived here till I was like six years old before I got shipped back to America to live with my dad's family when my parents died. But whatever. I'm back now I'm going to this really expensive private school in Iwatodai called Gekkoukan High. Sounds preppy as hell.

God I love my music. Then again, I also like explosions and judicious applications of Kill It With Fire and/or There Is No Kill Like Overkill. Yeah, I'm a troper. So sue me, it's kept my ass from getting put into the hospital.

Anywho, ridin' on a subway train to the station near the dorm I'm going to be staying at. I'm almost thankful I lived in Seattle, so the time in Japan is actually BEHIND what I'm used to by about eight hours, and seeing as I have a funky sleep schedule already, this should pose no problem for me.

The train screeched to a stop and I saw it flashing a notification that this was Iwatodai Sation, which is the exact stop I need. I stood up and grabbed my bag, then stepped off the train and onto the platform.

Now which pocket did I put that map in... AH HA. Found it. Okay, so which way is the do-

Ah, damn it, my MP3 player died... Oh, no, wait, it's Hell Time. It's this weird thing that happens where the world turns green, water turns to blood, electronics stop working, and people turn into coffins. Happens at eight in the morning for me back home, so this is pretty handy. Still, it's fun to play Ninja and mess with stuff during that time and then watch as people freak out when it ends.

I gotta admit, Hell Time looks a lot more disturbingly awesome at night. And check out the moon! Damn, dude! Ah well. Shit's not so bad. I can totally get more sleep this way, and that's fine by me. I take damn near everything in stride. I'm just cool like that.

Now let's see if I can read these directions right...

* * *

Finally found the dorm. Hard to read Japanese street signs when it's dark like this, but it's not like I'm ever going to be out and about during this time anyways.

...

Why do I feel like I'm going to be proven wrong at some point in the near future? Bah, whatever. Happens more often then I'd like, but oh well.

I'm suspicious, why the fuck are the lights on in the dorm during Hell Time? I MUST INVESTIGATE. I opened the door and stepped inside, looking around curiously as I set my bag down and pulled my headphones off and set them dangling around my neck.

"You're late."

What in the... Whoa, this kid can move during Hell Time? I've never seen anyone else around before now...

"I've been waiting a long time for you. Now if you want to proceed..." The kid said before snapping his fingers, a folder appearing as he somehow moved to standing infront of me instantly. "Please sign your names there."

Okay, this kid is cool, even if he does have creepily bright blue eyes. Then again, my eyes are orange so who am I to judge? And I just noticed he's speaking English. Strange, but okay.

"It's a contract." he explained. "Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."

Pfft, I always take responsibility for my insanity. But if you need it in writing, alright then. I walked over and signed my name in English. Because I can.

"No one can escape time." said the kid as he took the contract. "It delivers us all to the same end." He held the contract over the right half of his face. "You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

He moved his hand and the contract just plain vanished into nothingness.

"Nice trick." I haven't seen anyone that good at slight of hand since... me.

"And so it begins..." he smiled as he stepped back, the lights going out as he vanished into the darkness. That kid is badass, and he knows how to make a damn good exit. I'll have to strike up a conversation with the little guy next chance I get.

"Who's there!"

Eh?

My attention was drawn to the scorce of the voice. It was a girl in a pink sweater with brown hair and a gun strapped to her thigh.

Wait, a gun?

Pinky was looking at me like she'd seen a ghost, not to mention hyperventilating as her hand hovered closer to her pistol before snapping to grab hold of it.

"Takeba, wait!"

Both me and Pinky looked back towards the stairs where a very attractive redheaded woman in a white blouse with a gun belted to her waist and big heeled boots was staring at us. My right arm was up over my chest poised to throw the playing card in my hand when the lights came back on and "Monsters" by Matchbook Romance resumed playing from my headphones.

_'We are, we are the shaken! We are the monsters, underneath your bed!'_

I looked at the card I was holding(An Ace of Spades if you're wondering), then slid it back into my sleeve and turned down my tunes as the redhead walked over and stood next to Takeba.

"I didn't think you would arrive so late." said the redhead, looking at me. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

Takeba glanced over at Mitsuru. "Who's he?"

"Roy Fortune, at your service." I replied with a smug tone, bowing slightly. My name is awesome. Or at least I like to think so.

Mitsuru-san nodded. "He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boy's dorm."

Wait, what? The info thing I got said this dorm was co-ed! What the hell!

"Is it okay for him to be here?"

I don't think she likes me. Just as well, bitch tried to shoot me.

"I guess we'll see..." commented Mitsuru before motioning to the girl next to her with the card in her hand. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you."

"...Hey."

"Nice to meet you." I smiled and tipped my fedora. I'm avoiding bringing up the gun, mainly because it honestly doesn't bother me despite the fact that, as I recall, it's a crazy illegal to have one in Japan if you're not a cop.

"Uh, y-yeah..." Yukari stammered in response. "Nice to meet you too..."

"It's getting late, so you should get some rest." stated Mitsuru. "Your room is on the second floor at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there."

"Oh, I'll show you the way. Follow me." I grabbed my bag and started following Yukari. We rounded up the stairs and I noticed a mini-lounge and some vending machines.

This is an awesome dorm. They can't make me move out.

I followed her to the end of the hall, where she turned around and handed me a key, then motioned to the door.

"This is it..." Yukari said. "Pretty easy to remember, huh? ...Since it's right at the end of the hall. Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it... So, any questions?"

"Not really." I lied. Judging from the fact neither she nor Mitsuru brought up Jailhouse Kid, they probably don't know about him. And they probably have a reason for not asking me about Hell Time. Maybe it has something to do with whatever the hell 'S.E.E.S.' is. It's written on the red armband both Yukari and Mitsuru have.

"Um... Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "If by okay, you mean nothing that hasn't happened to me before, then yeah, everything was cool."

Yukari blinked in surprise again. Is she always like this?

"Uh, anyways, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight!" And off she goes. Wait, how can she run in a skirt THAT short? Bah, whatever. I slipped into my room and sighed. I tossed my hat off and onto the desk, then noticed a box on my bed. I opened it and found a few school uniforms inside.

I forgot about that detail, but oh well! Looks pretty cool, and if Yukari and Mitsuru are any indication, you can get away with making tweaks to it, which is epic because plain black and white is not my style. I shrugged, then took off my awesome maroon jacket and set it on the back of the rolling chair near the desk. Then I changed to my PJs and flopped into bed after I set my alarm.

Let's see if I can get some sleep...

* * *

Author Notes - HI THERE INTERNET.

Pretty crappy way to start off my first fanfic, huh? Well, hopefully it'll get better. The version you're looking at is a third revision(yes, I'm admitting to re-writing this before even posting it because I'm weird), and I'm technically not done with said revision(still working on it. I got up to just after the Emperess and Emperor fight before I started trying to re-write everything because it made no sense.) so as I get it fixed, I'll post it up. I've actually got a few more chapters ready, so those'll come up pretty soon.

Now to explain this floodgate of madness. Well, I'm just going to throw my hands up and say it outright; I'm a fan of the Fairly English Story and Lusnati Style. And I have an over-active imagination and very weird perceptions of Minato Arisato and Souji Seta's thought processes durring the events of their respective Persona games. A bit too weird, in my oppinion, for me to actually work with if I put the perspective inside their heads, so when I was boredly re-reading Lusnati Style the other day I got an idea; Why not try what DropletOfSour(the mad genius) did and stuff an original character into Minato's place and see what happens? And so yeah, that's how this was spawned.

Anywho, I'll stop rambling now. And hey, anybody reading this, can you PLEASE review the living hell out of it? I want to know if I'm doing a good job so I can try to improve. Plus I wanna know if I suck at this or not, so yeah.


	2. Weird like that

Got up, took a shower, and am now staring at myself in the mirror over the sink in my room next to a mini-fridge. This dorm is kickass. I finished combing my semi two-tone grey/red hair. It's weird, I know, but it looks like that naturally and nobody can figure out why, though from what I understand my dad had grey/orange hair so it must be a weird quirk of his side of the family.

I'm wearing my customized uniform and honestly, I look pretty cool. I traded out the white dress shirt for a maroon t-shirt I brought with me and skipped the pathetic ribbon they call a tie completely because of how stupid it is. I've also got my fedora on. It's black with a maroon band on it and a couple of playing cards tucked into said band, a pair of Jokers to be exact, and I totally look stylish.

"It's Yukari. Are you awake?"

I glanced over at the door as I set my headphones around my neck, my MP3 player tucked into the left pocket of my school jeans. I grabbed my school bag, then walked over and slowly opened the door.

"Good morning, Did you sleep okay?" Yukari asked once the door was open enough. I nodded, though I'm honestly surprised I slept at all. "Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. It's getting late, so are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Ridin' a train to school with a bunch of other students in here. Judging from the amount of looks we're getting, which apparently Yukari is failing to notice, there's going to be rumors flying around about us before the day is out. I only say that because this is Japan and this country is fuckin' weird like that.

I'm also tunin' out to Smash Mouth right now, simply because "AllStar" seems like an appropriate First Day of School song, so I have no idea what, if anything, Yukari might be trying to talk to me about, then she elbowed me and pointed at the window. I looked.

Holy fried bacon bits, THAT'S our school! Hot damn, dude. Swank place.

* * *

"Well, this is it. We're here! Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! Hope you like it!" Yukari said with a smile as we stood outside the gate to the school. If she's trying to seem endearing or something, it's not working.

I followed her into the building and went through the whole shoe thing. I still don't quite understand that, but whatever.

Then she gave me the laziest tour possible and told me not to mention last night before bolting off somewhere.

Did she even THINK before she said that? I mean christ, if anyone heard her say that they'll probably think we slept together or something because this is JAPAN and they are WEIRD LIKE THAT. I looked over at the bulletin board and saw a small horde of people gathered around it, so I opted just to head for the faculty office.

Aaaaaaand I'm worried about this school now. I passed a teacher wearing a samurai helmet and this blonde kid holding a fan who were having a very enthusiastic conversation. I ignored them and quickly entered the faculty office before I could find a reason to run screaming from the school grounds. One of the teachers, a brunette woman with a beige outfit, approached me.

"Oh, are you the new student?" I nodded. The teacher pulled out a couple of files and opened them. "Roy Fortune... 11th grade, correct?" Another nod. She looked back down at the file. "Let's see... Oh, you're here all the way from America?" It's not THAT amazing, is it? "What else... in 1999... that was what, ten years ago?" She's not... "Your parents..."

I simply sighed and lightly shook my head.

"I'm sorry... I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand." It's cool, I don't blame ya. "I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school. Have you seen the classroom assignments?" No. "You're in 2-F; that's my class." Coolies. "But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."

Oh goody. Time to listen to some old dude drone on and on about the fucking obvious.

* * *

Thank god for music, or this senile old windbag would be killing me with boredom right now. I'm amazed none of the other students have dropped dead. Also thank god for Dragonforce, because when you need something to block out a boring speech, nothing beats Through Fire and Flames. The song almost hit the epic guitar solo when somebody poked my shoulder. I paused the song then looked back at the guy.

"Hey, you came to school with Yukari-san, right? I saw you two walking together." Cue the rumor mill. Yay. "I have a question. Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

I gave him a flat glare and growled "No, I don't." before turning back around and turning back on my tunage. If you wanna find this shit out, man, go ask her yourself. Damn wuss.

* * *

Simple, easy first day of school with nothing big happening. I stood up and damn near crashed into this dude who just appeared infront of me.

"Sup, dude?" He asked, a grin on his face. "How's it going?"

"Eh, pretty good." I replied with a smirk. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Junpei Iori." he stated proudly. "Nice to meet ya. I transferred here when I was in 8th grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid... So I wanted to say "hey." ...See what a nice guy I am?"

"Always nice to meet a friendly face." I held out my hand and he shook it. "Name's Roy Fortune."

He looked over as someone walked up, and his grin widened. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" Nice nickname.

"At it again, huh?" Yukari griped. "I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

"He's not bothering me, if that's what you're thinking." I stated, giving Yukari a flat glare.

"If you say so." She gave a defeated sigh. I think Junpei just did a victory arm-pump. "Anyway, looks like we're all in the same homeroom. Funny, huh?"

"Guess that's the way the cards were dealt, right Junpei-san?"

"Heh, yeah man." I think I've just made a friend. "By the way, I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!"

"Wh-What are you talking about!"

"Whoa, easy Yukari-san." I held up a hand to her, then looked back at Junpei. "I moved into the same dorm as her, so she offered to show me the way to school. Anyone tells you otherwise, and I would prefer it if you'd punch them for being wrong."

"Hey, Roy-kun, you didn t say anything about..." What's with the hesitation, Yukari? "You-know-what, did you?"

"Is this about how you threw that book at me when I got to the dorm last night?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because it's your own fault for falling asleep on the sofa in the lounge while reading, then waking up and flipping out when I accidentally let the door slam. If I didn't have mad dodging skills it'd have probably hit me in the face."

Junpei doubled over in laughter, bracing himself on my desk while his other hand was wrapped around his waist. Yukari blushed and glared daggers into my skull, though she seemed relieved for some reason, then she glanced up at the clock.

"Oh, I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team." Yukari elbowed Junpei to get his attention. "You better not start any rumors!"

Then she left. Junpei grumbled slightly, then sighed.

"Ah, who cares. No one takes rumors seriously anyway. She's so paranoid." This is Japan. She has every right to her paranoia. "But hey! It's your first day here and people are already talkin' about you! Believe it or not, she's pretty popular. You da man!" Really? Damn. "This is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!"

"You know what, Junpei-san?" I asked as I grabbed my bag, then looked over at him. "I'm inclined to agree."

* * *

After that riveting chat with Yukari, Junpei tagged along with me on the way back to the dorm and we got to talkin' and stuff. "So dude, what's up with your hair? You dye it or something?"

I grabbed a few strands that were poking out from under my hat for a second. "Nope. Naturally looks like this."

"Really?"

I nodded as we got off the monorail at Iwatodai station. "Yeah. My dad's was the same way, but his was grey-orange."

"That's pretty cool." Junpei commented, then he looked up at my fedora. "What's with the cards?"

I sorta glanced up in the general direction of the cards for a second seeing as how I didn't want to take my hat off.

"It's just my thing." I shrugged. "I do slight of hand and stuff. Pretty damn well, too."

"Really? Show me a trick then."

"Sure." I grabbed the collar of his shirt. "You got something stuck under here anyways."

I pulled an Ace of Spades out from under the collar, then let go of him. "See?"

He whistled. "Dude, that's crazy."

"What can I say?" I smirked, flicking my wrist so it looked like the card just vanished. "I'm good."

* * *

Junpei headed home once we got to the dorm, and he seemed to not like the prospect. Must have overbearing parents or somethin'. I called out that we could hang out tomorrow if he wanted, and that certainly brightened his mood. Dude probably doesn't have many friends.

Spotted Mitsuru on the sofa reading a book when I went inside. She greeted me, then claimed I looked worn out and suggested I go to bed. Pfft, to piffle with that. Out of spite for my senpai, I vaulted over the back of the sofa opposite her and sat down, then pulled a book out of my bag and started reading.

A few hours later, this smug-lookin' dude with grey hair and a bandage above his left eye walked up to Mitsuru.

"I'm going out for a bit."

"...Hm?" She looked up, then over at me. I know she did, because I can always tell when people are looking at me. I still looked like I was reading, though I was actually paying attention to their conversation.

"Didn't you see the newspaper?" I felt grey look at me for a second as well. "There's a lot going on."

"I know..." Mitsuru commented grimly. I tilted my head up slightly so I could see them both. Her expression was as grim as her tone. "People who had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of Apathy Syndrome... I've seen it on the news quite often lately. They say it's due to stress, but..."

Grey scoffed. "Yeah, right. It has to be THEM." Them? "Otherwise, it's not worth my time..."

"You have a one track mind..." She shook her head and looked up at him from her book. "Will you be okay on your own? The Chairman will be here for the next few days, but after that, I can..."

"Don't worry." He shook his head and started towards the door. "I'm just getting a little practice." And out he goes.

"This isn't a game, Akihiko..." she sighed as the door closed, then shook her head and went back to reading.

I looked up from my book. "He go out like that often?"

Mitsuru looked at me. "If you're concerned, you should know Akihiko can take care of himself, though I wish he would be less reckless..."

"He get into fights a lot or something?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Nothing like that. He'd get removed from the Boxing Team if he did."

"Ah." I replied, closing my book and standing up. "Whelp, think I'll go turn in for the night. See ya tomorrow, Senpai."

I turned and headed to the stairs and up to my room. I was pulling on my pajamas when Hell Time kicked in. I glanced around my room to see the effects. Pretty creepy. Then I spotted something up above my mirror. The hell?

I walked over and looked up. Keep in mind, I'm like six feet tall so it's not like I need to get that crazy rolling chair to check this thing out. It looks like it could be a camera.

Eh, doubt it works right now. Probably just basic security in small, non-conspicuous size. I shrugged to myself, then climbed into bed. Yay for Hell Time coming at Midnight. Means more sleep for me!

* * *

Author Notes- Just a quick little bit here about this chapter, and the story in general; I'm actually writing this whole thing in one file on my computer, then chopping it up into chapters to post. Also, Roy's not exactly me; If he were me, this would look a LOT more like Lusnati Style, what with him swearing every other word(possibly more). He's got a few of my quirks, yeah, but who's OC doesn't have at least one thing in common with the person who came up with them(Please don't list examples)?

And I'm going to say it right here; NO, I am NOT going to pair Roy with Yukari. Honestly, after playing P3:FES, The Answer, and P3P, I really don't like how she swings between 'nice' and 'total bitch' at almost a moment's notice, especially when Junpei is involved because Junpei is one of my favorite characters along with Shinjiro and Aigis. I don't HATE her, I'm just not very fond of her.


	3. Velvet what?

Woke up, went to school, heard some weirdos talking about rumors(apparently there's one about a bathroom) at the gate, and bailed Junpei out when Ms. Toriumi put him on the spot. He ended up not hanging out with me because he forgot he had plans with his buddy Kenji, so I strolled around town on the way back to the dorm today. Not a bad place, to be honest. Spotted this fast food joint called "Wild Duck Burger" and have to wonder how McDonalds or Burger King hasn't sued their pants off yet.

It was pretty late when I got back to the dorm, but whatever.

"Oh, he's back."

And Yukari and this really sketch lookin' dude with a mullet are here.

"So, this is our new guest..." commented sketch as he stood up and intercepted me as I walked towards the stairs. "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school."

Oh, so this is the Chairman that Mitsuru was talking about last night. Dude is seriously sketch.

"'Ikutsuki'... Hard to say, isn't it?" It's not. "That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes..." And this is the guy who runs our school? Seriously? "Please, have a seat."

I flopped down onto the sofa next to Yukari and Sketchji Ikutsuki sat down in the chair diagonal from it.

"I apologize for the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a little while before you receive the proper assignment."

"Hey, no rush." I commented with a shrug. "I kinda like having a mini-fridge."

"Alright then." He smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Nah, I'm good." I lied. I have the perfect poker face. "Nothin' really sticks out in my mind that I'm in any rush to find out about."

"Well, in that case you should probably get to bed then." He stood up. "As they say, 'The early bird catches the bookworm!'"

This idiot runs our school. I'm afraid. I'm very afraid.

"...Please forgive the pun." he apologized, then headed upstairs. I looked over at Yukari.

"You'll get used to his lame jokes."

"Oh god, please no." I said with a shudder before I went upstairs and went to bed because I didn't feel like staying up.

* * *

This is a pretty interesting dream. I'm walking along a checkerboard path towards something. Looks like a door, so I open it and I find myself sitting in a chair across from a- HOLY SHIT DUDE, that nose puts Cyrano de Bergerac to SHAME. Next to Captain Nostril is a pale skinned woman with bright yellow eyes and a blue outfit along with white hair holding a huge book. And apparently we're in a huge elevator with a few extra doors in it and everything is royal blue in color.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man..."

Nice place ya got here, pal. I should also mention is that the dude with the nose has bloodshot eyes, pointy ears, seems to be going bald and sports the most epic slasher smile in all of existence.

"My name is Igor..." he said in a whimsical tone. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance..." He motioned to the girl next to him. "This is Elizabeth. She is a resident here, like myself."

"Pleased to meet you." she bowed slightly.

"Likewise, ma'am." I tipped my hat. Wait, I'm wearing my hat? I looked down and sure enough, I'm wearing my typical casual outfit; My maroon thigh-length jacket with long sleeves and gold trim, a grey t-shirt, a gold belt with dark grey jeans, my favorite pair of black and maroon boots, and of course my fedora. This is new.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter..." Igor's words snapped me from my thoughts. "It's been YEARS since we had a guest. Now..."

He waved his hand and the contract Jailhouse Kid had me sign appeared. This guy is good.

"Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place... Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room."

"Alright." I replied with a shrug. Honestly, this is nothing I'm not used to. Most of the time I have dreams about this cute blonde girl with bright blue eyes I'm fairly sure I've never met before, so a crazy Blue Elevator is nothing to freak out about.

"You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so." Igor continued, his grin widening. "I only ask one thing in return... that you abide by the Contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make."

"Not a problem." I replied with a smirk. And it took me till now to realize we're speaking English. "Look forward to working with you, Igor."

"As do I. Hold onto this..." He waved his hand and a dark blue key appeared infront of me. I grabbed it and tucked it into my pocket. "'Till we meet again..."

* * *

And now I'm awake and immediately hopped up to check my coat's pocket. Sure enough, the key was there.

I pulled it out to look at it closely, and interestingly there was a spade symbol etched into the back of it. I smirked, then put it back in my jacket before getting ready for school.

Nobody was there to head to school with me, but I ended up bumping into Junpei a little bit before I got to the gates. We greeted each other with a high five. Because we are total bros.

"What's up, Roy?" I told him during lunch yesterday he could skip out on the honorifics with me if he wanted to. He let me do the same for him. CUZ WE'RE BROS. "Man, today is a perfect day! The sky is blue...we're young...what more could we ask for?"

"A girlfriend, for starters."

That got a laugh outta him.

* * *

School was boring as hell, so I napped through class. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal. I'm one of those 'Brilliant but Lazy' types, meaning I could slack a lot and still ace exams and stuff. Having a near-photographic memory probably helps.

Walked back to the dorm with Junpei again, but he split at Iwatodai station to go take care of something. I still managed to get back late somehow, but I didn't care. I wasn't tired because of my nap, so I opted to do some drawing once I changed into some casual clothes, sans hat and jacket.

Yes, I draw. I draw very well, if I do say so myself. Hell Time set in just as I finished my sketch of me and Junpei rocking out on guitars(because I can), so I set my drawing stuff down, then put on my hat and jacket. I felt like seeing what Mitsuru and Yukari were up to, but that plan was dashed when the dorm shuddered. Confused, I went out of my room and started towards the stairs when suddenly Yukari was running up to me with a bow in one hand, a short sword in the other, and that gun on her thigh along with her 'SEES' armband on.

"I don't have time to explain," She said in a panic. "But we have to get out of here, Now!"

"I'm not going anywhere unle-" I was cut off when the building shook again. No way that was an earthquake, something just hit this place. Something big.

"Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" She ordered and started to turn. "...Wait! Take this, just in case."

She shoved the sword into my hand. Not a fake one either, no this thing's very real and very sharp. I didn't ask further questions as I followed Yukari downstairs, carrying the weapon in a reverse grip. We slowed to a stop near the back door, and Yukari was breathing heavily.

"Alright, we should be safe no-" She stopped mid-sentence and put her free hand up to her ear. "Y-yes! I can hear you!"

Must have an earpiece on. A special one if it works during Hell Time.

"WHAT?" Oh hell, I dunno wh- HOLY SHIT, something just tried to smash the door down!

"L-Let's pull back!" Yukari sputtered, heading towards the stairs.

"Better idea!" I shouted, darting past her. "Head upstairs!"

"R-Right!" She agreed, following after me. I heard a loud crash as we rounded the stairs to the third floor, so whatever was trying to break the door probably busted through. This of course prompted us to run faster till we hit the fifth floor, where our only option was to head through the roof access door.

I barreled through it and glanced around for a fire escape or something while Yukari shut the door behind us. I looked back at her, and she was breathing heavily still.

"I think we're okay for now..."

A loud thump from behind us caught our attention and we whirled around and saw a pitch black hand grabbing the edge of the roof. A blue mask held in another hand raised up and appeared to look around before it 'spotted' us. Then a bitchload more hands grabbed the roof as even MORE sprang up holding knives with two foot long blades on them.

Oh hell.

"Those monsters..." Yukari said, getting my attention. "We call them Shadows."

Then she yanked the gun out of the holster and pointed it at her head and started breathing heavily as the big beastie came towards us.

Yukari never got the chance to pull the trigger as Big'n caused some kinda blue tornado thing to explode from the ground near her, knocking her down and causing her gun to clatter to the ground in a small puddle of blood at my feet.

I looked down at it, then shifted the sword to my left hand before reaching down and picking it up. It was lighter then I expected. It clearly doesn't have any ammo in it. And she was aiming it at her head. What was she trying to do?

A vision of Jailhouse Kid flashed before my eyes. "Go on." He told me, pointing at his head with his fingers in a gun shape. I looked at the monster as it started moving towards me.

I raised the gun to my temple, a smirk forming on my lips despite the fact I was sweating bullets and breathing heavy. A word came to mind.

"Per...so...na..."

BANG

I felt something blast its way through my head and I heard the sound of glass breaking as blue shards and mist spiraled around me, my jacket whipping around slightly in the small whirlwind of glass and light. I had a sadistic smirk on my face.

"I AM THOU. AND THOU ART I."

A voice was booming behind me.

"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COMETH. I AM ORPHEUS, MASTER OF STRINGS."

Orpheus let out a battle cry as my smirk turned into a full on grin. This is freaking awe-

"GAH!" I fell to one knee, grasping my head with the hand I was holding the gun in. Fucking hell, it's like I've got a chest burster trying to pop out of my skull or something!

I heard something spazzing around behind me, and looked over my shoulder as two arms erupted from the neck of what I assume is Orpheus, then tore him apart, revealing something with a black jacket thing, a huge chain of coffins floating around him, a bone-white dinosaur skull helmet, and a sword belted at his waist.

My head felt better slightly as Black, as I feel like calling him, surged past me with a roar and hit the Knife Shadow like a freight train, slicing the mask in half and cutting off a few arms as well before it started ripping the damn Shadow apart.

I was watching this with awe. That thing came out of my head. I heard Yukari gasp, and that sorta snapped me out of it. Black let out another roar before it flickered back into Orpheus, who disappeared a moment later. I slowly stood up and blinked a few times.

"Is it over...?" Yukari asked, but our answer came in the form of a screech from a few mini-shadows. They looked like black slime monsters wearing the same mask as the one Black eviscerated. THESE I can probably handle.

"I got this." I said, charging towards the minis. I put the gun to my head again as I stabbed one in the face.

"ORPHEUS!" I shouted, pulling the trigger to summon him again as I stomped on the shadow I'd impaled while Orpheus crushed one of the other two under his harp. The one that my sword was stuck in melted into blackish red mist, and the survivor managed to get up close enough to hit me.

I staggered back a little, then put the pistol to my temple. "COME FORTH!"

Orpheus appeared and crushed the last one flat, then vanished. I breathed heavily as I stood up from my semi-hunched over position. I smirked, looking back at Yukari for a second, then fell to my knees and dropped the weapons I was holding.

And then I hit the ground. I hope I didn't break my nose or anything. Or mess up my hat.

* * *

"It's so nice to see you again."

My eyes slowly opened. I'm back in the Velvet Room. Hi Igor.

"Likewise..." I replied weakly, rubbing my head. "Wha happon?"

"You became unconscious after awakening to your 'Power'." He told me. "It's nothing to worry about though, so just, relax..."

Oh, cool, so this is like last time only I'm in a coma instead of asleep.

"By the way... I see that it was Orpheus who heeded your calling." Igor continued. "That power is called a Persona. It is a manifestation of your psyche."

"What about Black?" I asked. "He tore his way out of Orpheus. That mean he's part of my power too?"

"Perhaps, though you cannot call him forth at this time." He shrugged. "Regardless, it may take some time to fully comprehend. A Persona is a facet of your personality that surfaces to react to external stimuli. You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships."

I think I've read something about this before. I should Google this when I wake up.

"That being said, your power is still weak."

"And you know how to strengthen it, right?"

"Indeed." Igor's grin widened. "When you use your Persona ability, you must channel your inner strength." Like a Determinator? "The ability evolves as you develop your Social Links- your emotional ties with others. The stronger your social links, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please remember that."

So basically making friends gives me psychological eldritch superpowers. Got it.

"Now then, time marches on in your world, I really shouldn't keep you here any longer."

"Fair enough." I shrugged, then gave a sort of salute with my right hand, except with only my index and middle finger extended. "Later Days, Igor. Till next time."

He chuckled slightly. "The next time we meet, you will come here of your own accord, and will leave through the same. Until then, farewell..."

* * *

I woke up in a very comply bed staring up at a white ceiling. And I'm not wearing my hat. Heads shall roll if I don't get an exp-

"Oh, you're awake!" I looked to my left and saw Yukari sitting there. Thankfully she had her hands on her skirt to avoid me getting a peek up it. I slowly sat up to avoid that, because honestly I don't need to get bitchslapped for being a perv first thing when I wake up. "Um... How do you feel?"

"Been better." I groaned as I looked around the room quickly, spotting my jacket and hat hanging up on the wall near the door. A quick glance down at myself showed I was still wearing my own clothes. Odd, that. "Why're you here?"

"Thank goodness you came to..." She smiled for a second before frowning. "How much sleep do you need? You've been out for an entire week! I was so worried about you..."

I blinked. "You were worried... about ME?"

"Well, yeah..." She replied sheepishly. "You kinda saved my life, so I couldn't just leave you alone here..."

"Technically you saved my life, because if you hadn't dropped your summon pistol I wouldn't have been able to do anything." I replied. "Guess that makes us even."

"I guess..." Yukari looked down for a moment. "Oh yeah, this is Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. It's just a short walk from the station." Ah, okay. "The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you. He said you were just exhausted." You have no idea. "But you kept sleeping and sleeping... you know how worried I was?" You've been coming here for a week. I can venture a guess, though I have to wonder why you even care. "Um... I'm sorry I couldn't do anything..."

"No worries." I playfully punched her arm. "Even if it was supposed to be the other way around, don't sell yourself short."

"Thanks..." She smiled at me. "And your power, it was amazing... And I didn't know you could fight like that..."

"Neither did I. It was mostly instinct." I laughed. "Though I have taught myself a few forms of self defense. Never expected I'd ever use it to fight monsters. You called them Shadows, right?"

She nodded. "We're fighting them. And the power you used, we call it-"

"Persona." I cut her off, and got a weird look. "The word came to mind before I summoned Orpheus the first time. Not sure why, but hey, whatever works."

"I suppose. We'll explain everything later." Yukari promised, her smile fading into a frown before she stood up and walked over to a window, then looked back at me. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before..." She hesitated slightly. "I, uh...I wanted to tell you that...I'm sorta like you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What cha' mean?"

"My dad died in an accident when I was little... And my mom and I aren't exactly on good terms... You're all alone too, right?" Yukari looked down, and her tone sounded sad, almost guilty. "To be honest, I already know about your past... But, it didn't seem fair, so I wanted you to know about mine..."

Fuck man, they did a background check on me? Were they paranoid I was some psychotic british kid with blue emo fringe hair and a Warhammer 40k addiction who screams alot or something?

"It was back in '99..." She continued, still looking down. "There was a big explosion in the area. Supposedly, my dad died in the blast, but nobody really knows what happened." Oh god... "He was working in a lab run by the Kirijo Group, so I'm hoping if I stick around long enough I'll learn something. That's why I'm going to Gekkoukan High, and why I was there when this happened to you."

Wait, Kirijo Group? As in Mitsuru Kirijo, our senpai? Damn... that's going to be an issue sooner or later...

Yukari gave a heavy sigh. "Of course, I panicked and wasn't much help... It was my first time fighting them, too." She slumped her shoulders. "I'm sorry... You wouldn't have to go through all this if I wasn't such a coward..."

"It's not your fault." I told her. "I mean hell, I was kinda freaked out myself."

"Really? But still... " She seemed surprised, then laughed slightly. "...And here I am telling you all this right when you woke up. While I was waiting, I thought to myself, 'I've been hiding so many things from him... and when he wakes up, I'm going to tell him the truth.'" She smiled at me. "So, thanks for listening. I've been wanting to share that story with someone for a long time."

I smirked. "Anytime, Yukari-san."

"I better get going. I'll tell the others you woke up." She said, starting towards the door. "Take it easy, okay?"

"Planning on it, so Imma take a nap while I'm here." I yawned. "So yeah." I gave her my customary salute. "Later Days, Yukari-san."

"See you later, Roy-kun." She replied with a small smile as she left the room.

Now then, Nap time!

* * *

Author Notes- Yay third chapter! Now what comes next is the meat of the story; Social Links, Tartarus, and Full Moon Shadows!

I shouldn't have to say this, but obviously Roy's links will be different. Sadly, I'm guilty of not especially liking some scenes for links, or not liking entire links at all, so I might glance over some parts. And hey, quick question, anyone know where I can get a complete script for the FES version of Persona 3 and the Social Links for the Male and Female protaganists in P3P? It'd help me greatly to not have to spend a lot of time hunting them down, though I HAVE found a script for the original version of P3 on GameFAQs I've been using to get stuff more on track since I started re-writing. Before now, I'd been sorta using the Let's Play "My Life is a Goddamn Mess" as a means to keep things sorta on the rails, but that plan fails because I intend to have Roy Max every Social Link, and that doesn't happen in the LP.

So yeah, any help with that would be great, the Social Links especially because I REALLY need those so I know what I'm getting myself into with them.


	4. Sketchtsuki

Pre-chapter Review answer corner GO!

**espresso x cappuccino**- I'm glad you like it so far, and thanks! And if you think it's interesting now, wait till you see the rest of it.

NOW ON WITH THE SHOW!

* * *

Yukari came back later that day, surprisingly with Mitsuru, and got me out of the hospital so I could get back to the dorm and change. She wasn't there in the morning when I left, but I bumped into her at the school gates.

"Mornin'." She greeted. "You seem to be doin' pretty well."

"Pretty much." I shrugged.

"Hey, sorry to hit you with this first thing in the morning, but Ikutsuki-san wants to talk to you today." She said with an apologetic tone. "Come to the 4th floor of the dorm after school today, okay? Don't forget."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

* * *

Rest of the day was boring, apart from Junpei asking what happened to me at lunch. Told him to never mix Ceilo Mist, Mad Bull, and SoBay together and drink it while eating a bite of a whipped cream, chocolate frosting, and cheese sandwich, because apparently it's a potent enough combination to put you into a temporary coma.

When he asked why the hell I was eating that, I told him it was because it seemed like a good idea at the time. And honestly, it still does, minus the drink part. Yeah, I have a weird sense of taste.

Anywho, Got back to the dorm and nobody was waiting for me downstairs, so I just shrugged to myself and headed upstairs, dropping my stuff in my room before heading for the 4th floor and entering the big double doors.

"Ah, there you are. I'm glad that you're okay." Hi Sketchtsuki. "The reason I asked you here is because I needed to talk to you. Please, have a seat."

I sat down on a stool thing, still glad I have an epic poker face. A couple seats to my left was Akihiko, and Mitsuru and Yukari were on the sofa opposite us. There's also a metal briefcase on the table in the middle.

"Oh- before that. I believe I mentioned him earlier, but this is Akihiko."

"How ya doin'?" he asked, smirking. Friendly guy, from the looks of things. One of his arms looks bigger then the other, though. Is he wearing a cast?

"Okay, let me start off by asking you this: would you believe me if I told that a day consists of more than twenty-four hours?"

"Yeah."

That startled everyone.

"What?" I'll admit, I'm surprised it surprised them.

"You're quick to believe what we're telling you, though I suppose it's possible because you've experience the truth firsthand."

"Are you talking about last week?" I asked Mitsuru. "Because I was talking about the last ten years."

And now they're all looking at me like I have a spider on my face. Hopefully not the blue exploding kind.

"I should explain, huh?" I sighed slightly. "Ever sense the night my parents died here in Japan, I've been experiencing Hell Time."

"Hell Time?" Yukari raised an eyebrow.

"What I call that crazy green hour where everything bleeds. It got a different name?"

"Yes." Mitsuru stated. "We call it the Dark Hour."

"Ah. Much catchier." I nodded. "Anyways, I only know I've been seeing it for ten years because I woke up during the Dark Hour the night after the accident my parents died in. Actually, scratch that, I remember being in the Dark Hour on the night of the accident itself." Mitsuru flinched noticably. "Got worse once I was in America, seeing as because of the time difference it kicks in at around eight in the morning so for a while I'd wake up and be totally alone for an hour. Considering that the sky turns blood red and the sun and clouds turn black on top of the usual bleeding walls and coffins, probably not hard figure why I called it Hell Time."

"So you grew up with this?" Yukari looked at me sympathetically.

"That would explain why you've adapted to it so well..." Mitsuru added, nodding slowly.

"And for the record..." I said, holding up my right index finger. "I've never fought those Shadow things before last week."

"What?" Sketchtsuki seems surprised. Yes I am going to keep calling him that. It's funny to me.

"Yeah, never seen 'em before. I guess they're sorta stuck here in Japan or something." I shrugged. "And they only appear during the Dark Hour, right?"

"That's right." Akihiko said with a smirk. "Normal people don't realize it, since they're all sleeping in their coffins, and the Shadows will attack anyone unlucky enough to not be in their coffin." His smirk widened into a grin as he stood up. "It's our job to defeat them. Sounds exciting, huh?"

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru was on her feet now. She does not look happy. "Why are you always like that? You just got hurt the other day!"

She's totally got a thing for him.

"Now, now. He does his work well." Ikutsuki said, getting the both of them to sit back down. "Long story short, we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. SEES for short. On paper, we're classified as a school club. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the shadows. Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor."

I wonder what the cover story is.

"A Shadow feeds on the mind of its prey; the victim becomes a living corpse." Explained Mitsuru. "They're responsible for most of the incidents on the news, if not all of them."

Wait, so these things cause Apathy Syndrome? Damn.

"Although rare, there are those who can function during the Dark Hour." Ikutsuki continued. "Some may even awaken to a power that enables them to fight the Shadows. That's 'Persona', the power you used the other night. The Shadows can only be defeated by Persona-users...which means it's all up to you guys."

Mitsuru stood up and opened the briefcase on the desk, revealing one of those Summon Pistols and a SEES armband in foam padding. I knew what was coming. "What he's trying to say is, we wa-"

"I'm in."

They all looked at me in surprise. Again.

"I'm in." I repeated. "You really didn't have to try so hard to sell me on all of this."

Yukari smiled and sighed in relief. "For a second, I thought you were gonna say no."

"Not likely." I smirked. "I just hope you guys know what you're getting yourselves into with me."

Ikutsuki looked at me warily. "What do you mean?"

"When I came here, fate dealt you all a wild card." My smirk widened slightly. I just like saying that phrase because of how much general weirdness follows me everywhere.

"Well, thank you so much. I'm really glad you agreed to help us." Ikutsuki grinned, though he seemed nervous for some reason. "Oh, I almost forgot, about your room assignment... why don't you just stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the holdup is, but I guess it worked out in the end."

Pfft. Holdup my ass.

"Holdup?" Oh good, Yukari figured it out as well. "But wasn't that... oh, nevermind. It doesn't matter anymore."

I heard the sound of glass breaking and then everything stopped. A card appeared before me, and I recognized it right away. It's a Fool Arcana tarot card. Then I heard a voice.

_'Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana...'_

The card vanished and time started working again. I wonder if that was one of those Social Link things Igor was talking about. Ah well. I closed the briefcase and headed back to my room with it.

I'm still kinda tired so I just set the case down on my desk, put my PJs on and flopped onto my bed. Think more in the morning.

* * *

"Hi, How are you?"

The hell? I sat up and yawned. It's the Dark Hour. Oh hey, Jailhouse Kid is back!

"Yo." I greeted sleepily.

"It's good to see you." the kid smiled. "Soon, The End will come. I remembered, so I thought that I should tell you."

I raised an eyebrow. "The End?"

"Of everything." Oh hell. "But to be honest, I really don't know what it is..."

"At least you warned me." I said, shrugging. "Better then nothing."

"Oh, looks like you've awakened to your power... and an unusual power it is." He continued, changing the subject. "A power that takes many forms, yet is bound by none... it may prove to be your salvation, depending on where you end up."

And now I'm curious. Igor got some 'splainin' to do.

"Do you remember when we first met?"

"First night here. You had me sign that contract."

He nodded. "I expect you to honor your commitment." The kid seemed to teleport off my bed to standing near the end of it. "I'll be watching you, even if you forget about me... okay then, see you later, Roy."

And now he's gone. Ah fuck, I forgot to ask him how he does that. And how he... wait, he probably saw my name on the contract. Ah well. SLEEP.

* * *

Woke up pretty early, though I doubt Eleven-fifteen counts as 'early' to anyone who's not me, the next day, which was Sunday. Took a shower, then I threw on my casual outfit seeing as there's no school, though I wore a grey t-shirt with dark red around the ends of the sleeves and neck with an Ace of Spades emblem left side of the chest and didn't bother with my hat or jacket. Not plannin' on goin' out today.

I bounded down the stairs, and saw Mitsuru reading a book on the sofa.

"Good morning." she greeted, looking over at me.

"Mornin'." I replied, walking towards the kitchen. "Akihiko-senpai here?"

"He's went out already. Why?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering. Never seen him around in the morning."

* * *

Once I had some fewd in mah belleh, I got my sketchbook and touched up the drawing I'd made before the dorm got attacked. Yukari came down a little while later, Mitsuru having left a shortly before that for some reason. I'd started on a sketch of what I think I looked like when I first summoned Orpheus when I heard Yukari walk up behind me.

"Wow, you're really good." She commented over my shoulder.

"Thanks." I replied, not looking up. The door opened before Yukari could say anything else and Akihiko stepped inside.

"Good, you're both here. There's someone I wanna introduce."

I closed my sketchpad and walked over to Akihiko with Yukari as he stuck his head back out through the door.

"Hey, hurry up."

"Hold your horses." Is that who I think it is? "This is freakin' heavy." It's who I think it is.

And then Junpei walked in, luggage in hand.

I looked at Yukari. Her expression was priceless.

"J-Junpei? Why is HE here? Wait- don't tell me."

"This is Junpei Iori from class 2-F." Akihiko explained. "He'll be staying here as of today."

Junpei and me bumped fists. "What's up?"

"He's staying here?" Yukari is not amused. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I bumped into him just the other night. He has the potential, but only awakened to it recently. I told him about us, and he agreed to help."

"You have the Potential? For real?"

"He found me cryin' like a baby at the convenience store surrounded by a buncha coffins. I don't remember much, but man, that's embarrassing." Junpei stated with a sigh. "He said that's... y'know... completely normal in the beginning. Like... being confused and not remembering anything. Didja' guys know that?"

"Didn't happen for me." As far as I can remember, anyways.

"Big deal." He replied, smirking. "It happens to everyone else. But man, I was shocked to find out about you guys. I had no idea. I'm glad I'm not the only one. It could get kinda lonely, y'know." You have no idea. "I bet you're stoked too, right? Havin' me join..."

I high fived Junpei. "Hell yeah!"

"Huh? U-uh... Yeah..." Yukari doesn't share my enthusiasm. Too bad for her.

"Alright, enough with the introductions." said Akihiko. "I think we're about ready."

"Ooh, we gonna go do something?"

Smirk. "Kickass."

"With this many people, we can start exploring that place."

What place?

"You mean Tartarus?" Yukari seems to be in the know.

"Tartarus?" Junpei and I asked at the same time.

"Sounds like toothpaste." He commented.

"I was thinking more like hot sauce." But that's just me.

Akihiko shifted into Serious Business mode. "We believe we can find the reason for the Dark Hour there."

"I hope so..." Yukari commented.

"The chairman will give us the details tomorrow night, so be ready."

"Alright, cool." I said, grabbing the huge green suitcase Junpei brought and picking it up like it was nothing while still holding my sketchbook in my other hand. I've got a surprising amount of upper body strength. "C'mon Junpei, I'll help ya carry your stuff."

And then I helped Junpei move in. Because I'm cool like that.

* * *

School was boring the next day, but you knew that already.

"Man, I thought I was gonna fall asleep in there." Yukari said with a yawn at lunchtime. Damn, it MUST be boring if it almost put YUKARI to sleep. Oh hey, it's Mitsuru. She walked over to us in a hurry.

"Can I have a minute?" She asked. "Come to the lounge when you get back to the dorm." You mean the command room. "I have something to tell everyone."

"Oh, are we havin' that talk?" Okay, Junpei, think THEN speak.

"I'll save the details for later." Mitsuru replied quickly. "See you there."

And now she's gone. How can she wear those heels all the time? Gotta be a pain.

"Wow," Junpei commented. "She didn't waste anytime leaving."

"She's probably busy with things like Student Council, unlike us," Yukari seems to be in bitch mode again.

Junpei noticed this as well. "Whoo! Yuka-tan, do I sense some hostility?"

"Well, it's not that I don't like her. She's just..."

"Distant?" I offered.

"Something like that..."

* * *

Headed back to the dorm with Junpei after school. If there's one thing that's surprised me about this year so far, it's that I haven't lapsed into English when talking to people as much as I thought. Apparently once my brain is set into Japan mode, it just stays there. Pretty handy, though I still have to remember to use honorifics which is kind of annoying.

Got to the dorm, sent Junpei up before me while I changed out of my uniform into the same getup I had on Sunday, though I put on my hat and jacket as well. The key Igor gave me is still in my pocket, which is good because I really wanna see about getting back to the Velvet Room for some answers. Once I was changed I went upstairs and they were all waitin' for me, so I flopped down on the sofa next to Mitsuru.

"Okay, everybody's here. I'd like your undivided attention." We all looked at Sketchtsuki. I still get a bad vibe from this guy. Probably not a good sign. "For long time, Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only Persona users we had. But, that number recently jumped to five." Wait, only five? "Therefore, Starting tonight at 12:00AM I'd like to commence exploration of Tartarus."

"Sorry, I asked this yesterday..." Junpei interrupted, raising his hand slightly. "But what's this Tartarus thing, again?"

"I may not know, but Tartarus is basically the greek mythological equivalent of hell. Looked it up last night before I went to bed." I told him. "So whatever it is, it's serious business."

"That's correct, Fortune." It still bugs me to hear Mitsuru call me by my last name. "Tartarus appears during the Dark Hour."

"Just like the Shadows." Akihiko had his best slasher smile on his face. "We believe we can find the reason behind the Dark Hour there. It's full of Shadows, too, making it a perfect place to train. Think of it like a Shadow Nest."

"Whoa..." Junpei sounds surprised. "Their nest, huh?"

Yukari frowned. "But, Senpai... what about your injury?"

Oh please, his arm can't possibly be THAT messed up. Though it's possible he's got a busted rib or two as well...

"Since Akihiko hasn't fully recovered yet, he'll only come as far as the entrance."

"Yeah, I know." Poor guy sounds bummed.

"Hey, take it easy Senpai." I said. "We'll save some big ones for you to pulverize when you get better, right Junpei?"

"Heh, yeah."

"And what about you, Bossman?" I looked at Sketchtsuki. "You taggin' along?"

"I'll stay here." He replied, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "I can't summon a Persona."

Now I'm getting an even WORSE vibe from him. This cannot be good.

* * *

"This is it? THIS is the place?" Junpei asked. "Why HERE?"

Honestly, I'm only half surprised we're back at school. It's clearly the path to Tartarus, otherwise our upperclassmen wouldn't be bringing us here, though honestly I find this situation funny. I mean, most kids THINK school is hell. Ours has a freaking DOOR to the place.

Also, it turns out there's an armory in the dorm under the stairs, which I found out when I went down with Junpei to get a weapon. He grabbed a katana, while I went for a set of metal gloves. Sure, I could just use a short sword like Yukari gave me last week, but what I'm good at is hand-to-hand. I know a few moves with a weapon, though, so maybe I'll give it a shot sometime.

Besides, these gauntlets are badass. Seriously badass. Kinda bulky, but I'll make do. Mitsuru also gave me this epic belt holster for my summon pistol, which as I've found out is actually called an Evoker. Rolls off the tongue better. Anywho, back to the matter at hand.

"Just wait a sec." Akihiko stated, looking at his cellphone. "It's almost midnight."

Three.

Two.

One.

Dark Hour.

There was a sudden rumble, then the school started to transform. I'm impressed, because hot damn, that is both disturbing and mildly awesome. Our school isn't a DOOR to Tartarus, it fucking TURNS INTO THE PLACE. And it's also a huge ass tower now. I can't even see the top of this thing.

"This." Mitsuru said. "Is Tartarus- the labyrinth that reveals itself during the Dark Hour."

"Wow." I whistled. "Most kids just THINK school is hell. Ours actually IS."

"What happened to our school?" Junpei shouted, understandably freaked the hell out. "This is the 'nest' you were talking about?"

"Once the Dark Hour passes, everything returns to normal." Mitsuru continued.

"But, why?" He asked. "Why'd our school turn into a giant tower?"

Cue awkward silence as Mitsuru looked away with a slightly guilty expression.

"...You don't know either, do you?"

"...No."

I'm calling bullshit on that. She knows. And Yukari's probably gonna call her on it eventually, considering her whole motivation and crap she ranted about to me at the hospital. Yeah, this is gonna be BAAAAAAAAAD.

"Whelp, whatever." I said, clapping my hands together before rubbing them back and forth quickly. "Let's get this show on the road! Ain't got all night!"

* * *

"Woah, it's just as cool on the inside..."

I agree, Junpei. This is awesome stuff. Sure, it's nightmarish stuff that most normal people, meaning not us, would loose sleep over, but still awesome.

"But it sure is creepy..." Yukari gets it. She totally gets it. Maybe. Not sure.

"This is only the entrance." Mitsuru stated. "The labyrinth lies beyond the doorway at the top of the stairs."

"First, we'll give you three a feel for this place." Givin' us newbies a fair shake first? Erright. "Why don't you go have a look around?"

"What? By ourselves?"

"No, Yukari-san, with a god damn walking, talking bear plushie that squeaks when it walks and makes bad puns tagging along." I snapped sarcastically. And I know it was sarcastic because I said it in English. "Of course we're going by ourselves!"

"We're not asking you to go very far." Mitsuru is glaring at me. I'm going to assume she understood me and does not approve. "And I'll be feeding you information from here."

"So you two didn't plan on coming in the first place?" Junpei asked as Mitsuru pulled some stuff out of a motorbike I just now noticed was in here. She handed each of us an earpiece as well as a small shoulder-slung bag to hide under our jackets. Now if these were normal circumstances, I'd have declined the bag and told her that this jacket of mine is custom made and has about fifty bajillion pockets in it, but most of the pockets are small and this bag is pretty cool. Also convenient.

"That's right." Akhiko said in response to Junpei's question. "We're also going to appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions."

Junpei instantly started jumping around asking to be picked. That never works, man. Seriously. Probably gonna be Yukari considering she's been here lon-

"You're in charge."

Wait what.

"W-wait a sec, why him?" Why do you sound offended, dude? "He doesn't look like a leader."

"And you do?" I growled. He's really not one to talk about who looks like a leader.

"Well, he has fought them before." Thank you, Yukari.

"Seriously?"

"There's another reason." Akihiko's in serious business mode again. "You two..." He pulled his evoker out and pointed it at his head. I see where he's going with this. "Can you two summon your Persona without any difficulties like he can?"

"Y-Yeah, Of cour-"

"I-I thi-"

**BANG**

Everyone whirled around to see me with my evoker out and Orpheus floating behind me. I had a dead serious expression on my face. "No hesitation. No fear."

Orpheus vanished as I put my evoker away. I probably freaked them all the hell out. Good.

"See what I mean?" stated Akihiko, putting his evoker away. "These are shadows we're talking about here." He tapped his cast. "Without your Persona, you're dead."

"You're welcome for the visual aid, senpai." I said, looking over at a glowing blue door on the side of the room. "We'll get going in a sec."

I walked towards the door and pulled the key out of my pocket. It was glowing just like the door was.

"Roy?"

"Just hang on." And in I go.

* * *

"I've been waiting for you."

"Hey Igor. Evenin' Elizabeth." I tipped my hat to the both of them as I walked in and sat down. "Quick question. I'm the only one who can interact with that door, right?"

"Indeed." Igor replied with a nod. "And no time shall pass when you visit of your own accord. Now, the time has come to wield your power." He sounds happy. Poor guy must be bored in here. "The tower that you are about to venture into... How did it come to be? For what purpose does it exist? Regrettably, you are not yet capable of answering these questions. That is why you must be made aware of the nature of your power."

"And what is the nature of my power?" I asked. "The kid who got me to sign the contract said it takes many forms, yet is bound by none."

"Indeed, your power is unique." Affirmed the master of the Velvet Room. "It's like the number zero... It's empty, but at the same time, holds infinite possibilities. You, my boy, are able to possess multiple Personas, and summon them as needed."

"Really?" I like where this is going. "That's interesting."

"And when you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you." He continued. "There may be times when they are difficult to grasp... but do not fear. Seize what you have earned. Your power will grow accordingly... be sure to keep that in mind."

"I will." I stood up and offered a hand to Igor, and he shook it. "I can drop by whenever, right?"

"Of course, though my spare time will soon become scarce." He replied, letting go of my hand. "But, please come again of your own accord. I'll tell you then of my true role... the manner in which I can best assist you."

"Erright then. Later Days, Igor!" I saluted as I walked out the door.

* * *

"Hey, are you alright?"

I turned to look at Yukari. "Never better. Let's move."

"You sure man?" Junpei asked. "You looked like a zombie."

"Drop it." I grumbled, putting on my gauntlets. We marched up the stairs as Mitsuru went over a few of the basics of how fighting Shadows works.

Apparently, just having a Persona effects our bodies, giving us boosts to our actual physical attributes and resistances or weaknesses to certain things. Sorta like Style Changes or Double Soul in the Megaman Battle Network games or, as a much better example, Pokemon. The types we deal with are the standard Fire, Ice, and Lightning, along with Wind, Light, and Darkness, then three kinds of physical damage, Strike, Slash, and Pierce. Makes sense, seeing as getting punched in the face is different then getting your arm cut off. An example Mitsuru gave us was Akihiko. His Persona resists electric damage while being vulnerable to ice.

Unfortunately for me, Orphues is vulnerable to lightning and darkness, so as it stands Akihiko can totally wreck my shit because it's probably a safe bet he's in charge of zapping the hell out of stuff. But, as far as being able to lay the smackdown on shadows, Orph's got Bash and Agi, which is fire, and between our primary weapons Me, Junpei, and Yukari got the three physicals covered. Anywho, once Mitsuru was done telling us the basics, we went in and found ourselves in this bloody version of the school hallways. Creepy.

"So this is it, huh?"

"I hope I don't get lost..."

_"Can you all hear me?"_

"Yep." I replied, spotting a briefcase ahead of us and opening it. There was some crazy medicine bottle in it, so I stuffed it in the mini-bag I got. Hey, free stuff is free stuff. "Perfectly clear, Senpai."

_"I'll be providing audio backup from here on out."_

"Wait... Ya mean you can see inside here?" Junpei sounded surprised.

_"It's my Persona's ability."_ She stated. _"I'd like to join you, but the structure of Tartarus changes from day to day. That's why outside support is imperative."_

"Makes sense." I looked around a corner and saw a dark blob moving around. "Hey, I think we got the first victim of the night over here."

_"Correct, Fortune."_ Seriously, stop using my last name please. _"Keep in mind, these are real battles you'll be engaging in. Now, see if you can eliminate all the Shadows wandering around on this floor."_

"Gotcha!" replied both me and Junpei in unison. I looked back at him.

"Ready for this, partner?" I asked with a smirk, punching my fists together twice with an audible clanking from my gauntlets.

"Hell yeah!" He nodded, then the two of us rushed around the corner towards our prey. Hey, it's one of those mini guys I fought on the roof! We got this.

It was a slaughter, actually, me and Junpei hit that sucker like a tank through a gingerbread house. He stabbed it with his Katana, and I slammed my foot into it for the kill. We high fived once it dissolved.

"Hurry up, Yuka-tan!" Junpei looked back at her as she approached us. "You're missin' out on all the action!"

"Chill, dude." I elbowed him slightly. "Let her have the first shot at the next one, and this time you guys try summoning your Personas, erright?"

Junpei grinned and pulled his evoker out, holding his huge katana with one hand. Dude's strong, that's for sure. Yukari looks nervous.

"Hey, don't worry." I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's easier then it seems. If it makes you feel better, imagine you're shooting Junpei instead of yourself."

"Hey!"

"I thought I told you to chill." I grumbled, walking towards the next hallway. I saw a small group of a couple minis ahead of us.

_"You should know, with my power, I can analyze an enemy to determine its weaknesses and strengths."_

"Really?" I asked, then looked at the minis. "Can you scan those two up ahead then, please?"

_"Just a moment."_

There was a short pause as Yukari and Junpei came up behind me.

_"They're Cowardly Mayas."_ Mitsuru explained. _"They're weak to fire attacks."_

"Thankies." I looked at the shadows again. They were a bit closer now. "Alright you two, go tear 'em apart."

"I got this!" Junpei shouted, leaping around the corner with his evoker to his head. "HERMES!"

Okay, Junpei's persona looks badass. It's got a sort of dark blue-ish armor and gold wing things. It flew at one of the shadows with a flying kick and obliterated it, causing the other one to take notice. It was close enough to get to Junpei before he could move, and thus knocked Junpei back a bit. But now the little bitch was in Yukari's line of fire, so she sniped it and I smashed my right hand into it to finish it off before we rushed over to Junpei. Fuck man, that looks like it hurts.

"Are you okay?"

"Been better..." He gripped, sitting up.

"I can do this..." Yukari had her evoker ready. "IO!"

Okay, her Persona is odd. It's a giant cow's head with a chick chained to it. That cannot speak well about her mentality.

"Hey, I feel better..." Junpei blinked in surprise as he stood up while Yukari's persona vanished.

And I just now noticed I can see his Arcana and Persona. Magician and Hermes respectively, though I can't see anything else about it. Looked at Yukari and I can see hers as well. Lovers Arcana and her Persona's Io. That's actually really cool, but I'll still prolly have to ask about what they can do.

"Erright, if you're good let's find more victims to slaughter." I grinned evilly and started further down the hall, stopping when I saw a staircase. "Hey, Senpai, there's some stairs here."

_"A staircase is the only way to proceed to the next floor. I can't allow you to go any higher today, but please remember about it next time."_

"Alright. Is there another group of Shadows nearby?"

_"Yes."_ Mitsuru replied. _"Continue around the corner, but approach with caution to avoid giving the enemy the advantage."_

"Gotcha." I peeked around the corner and saw three Mayas in a group a few feet away. "Yukari-san, you're up first. Junpei, we go in' Personas a blazin' once she snipes them, got it?"

"Right!" Yukari sprang past me, launching an arrow down the hall. Me 'n Junpei charged in after her, shots ringing out as our Personas appeared and crushed two of the Mayas, leaving the third for Yukari to finish off with an arrow through the mask. Once the Shadows were dead, everything seemed to slow down and I could see cards before my eyes.

One was a little pixie thing, the other two had, respectively, a sword and a coin on it. They flipped and shuffled around. Pfft, too easy. Got me the Pixie.

_'You have welcomed the Persona Pixie into your heart!'_

Oh, so that's how I get more Personas. Noice. Lemme lookit this thing... Lovers Arcana... Hey cool, it's got a healing spell. And resists lightning and has no weakness! Not bad, but I'll stick to Orpheus for now. He can actually kill stuff. I looked back at the others and their Personas seemed more powerful as well.

"Hey, Roy, my Persona's got a new move!" Junpei said suddenly. "Somethin' called Agi."

"That one's fire. Orpheus knows it." I told him, peeking around the next corner. Oh hell, there's five of these fuckin' things this time. "Oi, Junpei, c'mere."

"What?" He asked, moving closer.

"On three, we go Burn Brothers on these guys." I held up my evoker with a grin. "Ready?"

"Always." He held up his.

"THREE!" We shouted, jumping out as we pulled the trigger on our Evokers, Hermes appearing and waving his hand while Orpheus played a metal riff on his lyre, causing a couple of the Mayas to slump down after getting blasted with firey death. Then things got weird. It was like time slowed down, so we both burnanated two more as Yukari fired an arrow from behind us and managed to knock down the one we hadn't hit yet.

"Now's our chance!" Junpei shouted. "Let's get 'em!"

"Sounds like a plan!" I shouted, running towards the dazed Shadows with Junpei, Yukari on our heels firing arrows quickly.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU SON OF A-"

Cue big ball of violence and a whole lot of dead shadows. And it was glorious. Hell, there was even this awesome skull shaped mushroom cloud once the dust settled!

Then the world slowed again and there were more cards. This time there were four, one of a blue chick, a plant, a coin again, but this one had a skull and crossbones on it, and a blue cup. Seeing as how pictures of something other then inanimate objects equals a Persona, I snagged the blue lady.

_'You have welcomed the Persona Apsaras into y-' _Shut up.

Let's check her out... Priestess Arcana, Resists Ice, weak to slash, knows Bufu. Sweet, I can kill stuff with Ice now!

_"What a stunning victory!"_ Mitsuru sounds impressed. _"But that's odd, usually there are more Shadows on the prowl..."_

"Clearly they are afraid of how badass we are." I grinned. "But oh well. What now?"

_"Let's go back to the dorm for today."_ She replied. _"There should be an Access Point somewhere on that floor. You can use it to return to the entrance."_

"Erright then." I looked at the others. "You guys go one way, I'll head that way." and with that, I darted down one of the split hallways. I totally should have made a Scooby Doo joke back there, but I'd probably be the only one to get it. Ah well, I spy loot! Let's see what we got in here... more medical crap. Meh.

_"Hey, I think I found it!"_ Yukari called over the com line.

"Good." I replied, stuffing the medicine into my bag. "Junpei, what about you?"

_"I found some weird gem things."_

"Bring 'em along. Senpai, which way's Yukari-san?"

So I got led to Yukari, Junpei passed me the gems and I stuffed 'em in my bag before we hopped onto the access point. Teleporting is actually a lot less weird then you'd expect. You just feel tingly for a second. And now we're on this weird thing in the lobby of the place.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru said. "So, how was it?"

"Not too bad." I replied, taking my gauntlets off. I should get a bag to carry these in. "Easier then I expected, if anything."

"Well, if you gained confidence, that's the best thing you could have achieved."

"Man..." Junpei sounds stoked. "I never knew I had that kind of power... but damn..." He looks like hell. "I'm beat "

"That's cuz you were bouncin' around like a little kid."

Junpei glared at her. "You look pretty tired yourself Yuka-tan."

"I'm still trying to catch my breath actually..." She replied, rubbing her arm slightly.

Mitsuru folded her arms. "That's an effect of the Dark Hour; you'll become fatigued more easily."

"I noticed that." I commented, checking my jacket for damage. Whatever the hell those shadows explode into when you kill them dissolves pretty quickly, so it's not like we have to worry about getting black crap all over us. Good to know, I don't want to have to get a new jacket. "Not that big an issue for me these days, though. You guys'll adapt eventually."

"But I'm surprised..." I looked over at Mitsuru as she spoke. "You all did much better then I expected." She looked over at Akihiko with a sly smirk. "At this rate, that'll catch up to you in no time, Akihiko."

"Heh." Now he's smirking. "We'll see about that."

**CRASH**

And now time's stopped and I can see The Fool card again.

_'Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to make a Persona of the Fool Arcana...'_

Oh hey, that makes two for that one. Sweet. But whatever. I'll deal with that later.

* * *

Author Note- So yeah, there's the first romp through Tartarus! Also, Roy's Social Links crash instead of cracking or smashing, because it honestly that's what it sounds like to me in the games. And now I wanna make a joke about it. That's gonna be fun.

Chapter 5 will be up in a few minutes as well, and You'll get to see the first of Roy's Social Links. You might be surprised, you might not be. Just keep in mind I'm still trying to find a script for all social links for both the Protaganists, so I might get some details wrong.


	5. Social Link GO!

I was a bit out of it the next day, but not too badly. I went to school by myself, and what I saw in one of the vending machines at the Port Island monorail station made my fuckin' month. Dr. Pepper. Fuck yeah. I got me one and was chuggin' that bad boy the rest of the way to school.

Bumped into Junpei's pal Kenji at the gates. I also found out he's a weird fucker who likes women who are old enough to be his mother. But, he's not all bad. Warned me about the assembly we have today. Oh goody. More boring bullshit.

* * *

Apparently not, actually. Mitsuru got elected president of the Student Council. Noice. Gave a pretty impressive sounding speech, but I know political bullshit when I hear it. Yay for being raised bilingual!

"So, Roy, you have any idea what she said?"

I looked at Junpei. "To translate from politician to Japanese, work hard, know your limits, and keep your eyes on the prize. And trust me man, I'm just as amazed as you that I understood any of that at all."

"Really?" he asked. "Man, makes that whole thing really underwhelming..."

"Yeah..." Oh hey, Yukari's sitting behind us.

* * *

Class was boring as always. If I hadn't had that Dr. Pepper on the way to school, I'd have probably zonked out in there. I'd prefer to save that for the next big assembly. Or Mr. Ekoda's lessons. Dude's more boring then watching paint dry.

Junpei asked me if I wanted to tag along with him to do some stuff, so we started leaving school when I heard something that made the blood drain from my face and sent a shiver down my spine.

**_Squeeing Fangirls._**

"Look, it's Akihiko-senpai!" cried out one of the girls before the horde basically surrounded the poor guy.

"Man, I thought you only saw girls flock like that on TV..." Clearly you forget you live in Japan, Junpei. But enough about that, I see a friend in need and shall assist him in his daring escape!

"Hey, Senpai!" I called out, moving towards the edge of the crowd around him. "You got a minute?"

And now the horde's looking at me. With a group death glare. I countered with one of my own, causing a few of them to flinch slightly. Fangirls don't scare me, unless I'm the object of their desires. THEN they'd scare me.

"Oh, it's you." Akihiko sounded relieved as he pushed his way through the horde towards me. I took a few steps back to give him some room, and saw Junpei walkin' over as well. "You guys free this afternoon?"

He wants to use us as a scapegoat. I'm all for it. "I'm free, yeah."

"Hell yeah! Whatcha got in mind?" Junpei clearly thinks the fangirls will be joining us. That will not be happening if I have any say in the matter.

"I want the two of you to meet me at Paulownia Mall." Stated Akihiko. "You know where it is right? I'll be at the police station. I'll see you there."

"Th-The police station?" Junpei is disappoint. "Wait, we're not hanging out with your friends?"

"Who, these girls?" Akihiko pointed his thumb at them, causing the horde to squeal with glee. "I don't even know their names. They talk so much they give me a headache." I feel for ya, man. "Anyway, I'm gonna head out... don't keep me waiting."

The girls started whining as Akihiko tried to escape, but clearly they weren't going to have that and thus started after him, swooning about the fact that him spurning them is what causes them to flock to him in the first place. Junpei is clearly in shock.

"Man, how can he not know their names? I mean, just look at them!"

"Simple." I replied. "He's not interested in any of them."

Junpei looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, not every guy wants a swarm of women at their beck and call." I stated flatly. "I'm the same way, but that's not important. We should probably get going."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

* * *

Damn this mall is cool. Not hard to find the police station, because surprisingly it has a huge sign that says "POLICE" in English hanging over it. I had to suppress the urge to laugh my ass off. Went in, and there was Akihiko talking to the most badass looking police officer I've ever seen. Seriously. This guy looks like he could star in an Action Movie. And it would be awesome.

"Thank you, sir." Akihiko turned around and spotted me 'n Junpei. "Oh, these are the guys I was talking about earlier."

The cop started sizing us up silently.

"I was waiting for you guys. This is Officer Kurosawa." Akihiko motioned to the cop. "He helps keep our squad well-equipped. And this is from Ikutsuki-san..."

And then he gave us both 5000 yen. That's like what, Fifty bucks American? Noice. Of course, I've got 20000 yen of my own burning a hole in my pocket, so it's not that big a deal but still.

"You can't fight empty-handed, so find something you like." Continued the boxer. "Officer Kurosawa has connections, but these things still cost money."

"Of course they do." Wow, Kurosawa has an awesome voice. "Nothing in life is free." Breathing is free.

"I realize that." Akihiko looked at the officer for a second, then back at us. "Well, I'll see you later. Thanks again."

He left, then Kurosawa looked at us.

"I've been informed about you two. My job is to maintain peace in this city regardless of the circumstances." He said. "I'm just an ordinary police officer, but it doesn't take a genius to know something strange is going here. I'm only doing that I think is right."

"And I thank you for it." I told him. "So, uh, can we see what you got?"

He nodded. "I don't have that much, but you should be able to find what you need."

I looked through his selection. He's got short swords, long swords, bows, and a set of gauntlets. They looked better then the ones I was using, so I snagged those things. It was weird, but I felt tougher, stronger, and faster when put them on. I'll have to ask Akihiko about that. Junpei got himself a Katana and said he felt like he could get in some heavy hits with it, but he didn't have the cash for any armor so bought a Camo Shirt for the both of us.

"Thanks, man!" He said as he tucked the shirt into the bag Kurosawa gave him to carry his katana in. "I owe you one."

"Then you can treat me to food tomorrow." I told him. "Cos tomorrow night, Imma see about Mitsuru-senpai takin' us to Tartarus for some action."

"Alright." we traded fives. "Catch ya later, man. I'm gonna head back to the dorm."

"Wait up, I got nothin' better to do."

* * *

Got back to the dorm and Mitsuru stopped me once I got inside. Apparently our Tartarus runs are dependant on whenever the hell I feel like going. I told her I planned on heading out tomorrow so Yukari and Junpei could get some rest, then I went over to Akihiko. Dude's sittin' on the sofa stitching up a pair of boxing gloves.

"Hey, Senpai, what's the deal with the stuff Officer Kurosawa sells?" I asked. "I got a set of gauntlets from him and I felt way stronger."

"Kurosawa-san's wares are special." He replied. "The armor and weapons have abilities only Persona users can see or use, and they're more durable."

"Oh, okay..." I nodded. That's actually pretty damn neat.

* * *

Kenji pestered me at the school gates again. I do NOT want to deal with this guy. Seriously, he's a reverse pedophile. He also seems to think me and Yukari are an item. I shall now rectify this situation.

"Look Kenji." I grabbed him roughly by the collar of his uniform. "If you want to find out stuff about me, come see ME and ask ME. Do not listen to bullshit rumors going around the school just because I walked here with Yukari-san on my first day. Got it?"

He nodded dumbly and I let go of him.

"Sorry." I muttered, then quickly walked into the school building and away from Kenji. I hate it when people do guesswork about me. After school, Junpei came up and asked if I wanted to head to this ramen shop called 'Hagakure' with him. Kenji overheard us and wanted to tag along, saying he'd pay for mine as an apology for the whole rumor thing this morning. I went with it because hey, free food!

* * *

"Whew!" Kenji said between mouthfuls of noodles at the ramen place. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Was I right, or what?"

"Beyond right." I grunted. This is fucking amazing. "Because HOT DAMN, this is epic ramen."

"He's one of us!" Junpei commented, high fiving Kenji.

What do they put in this. I must know so I can steal it.

"Hey, your guys' dorm is co-ed, right?"

I glared at Kenji. "Finish that thought and I'll strangle you with a ramen noodle."

"It's not about that!" He retorted defensively. "Can you guys like, go into girl's rooms and stuff?"

"Not bloody likely." I stated. "We have two options currently; Yukari-san or Mitsuru-senpai. Either way, we die horribly if we try."

"Yeah, seriously." Junpei added grimly.

"That's what I thought." Kenji replied after finishing another bite of noodles. "Well, I'm not interested in girls their age anyway. When it comes to women, I like them to be older than me. What about you, Roy?"

"Don't have a preference." I shrugged. "But I guess I'll find out when someone catches my eye."

"Good for you, man." Gee, thanks Captain Perv. "Well, to tell you the truth..."

Oh god, he's going to confide something in me. Oh god, please no, I don't want to deal with this guy! Oh, hey, it's late! I can totally use that to bail! Besides. Tartarus tonight.

"Oh crap, sorry dude." I slurped down my noodles and stood up. "It's gettin' late and I got somethin' I need to take care of back at the dorm."

"Huh?" Kenji looked confused, then checked his own watch. "Oh man, my favorite show's on!" He chugged his own bowl of ramen and put money down to pay for everything. "See ya later guys!" And he was off.

"Weird guy, huh?" Junpei asked me as we left Hagakure.

"Very." I agreed. "And not just his taste in women."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know man. We've been friends for a long time." Junpei's expression changed to a more thoughtful one. "You know, you're kinda weird yourself."

Eyebrow raise. "What cha' mean?"

"Well, apart from Kenji, not alot of guys really bother talkin' ta me."

"I don't judge people by how they look." I replied. "Besides, you're probably one of the few genuinely nice people in the world. I respect that."

He grinned. "Heh, thanks man."

We bumped fists. "Anytime, buddy."

**CRASH**

Whoa, what the hell?

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana...'_

Oh cool, I got another link now.

"Hey, what's the matter?" He was looking at me funny. "You froze up."

I shrugged. "Nothin', just zoned for a second."

* * *

At Tartarus, I popped over to the Velvet Room real quick for a quick Q&A with Igor.

"Evenin' Igor." I tipped my hat as I sat down.

"Good Evening, Master Roy." Elizabeth bowed. I'm not going to get used to her calling me that.

"Good to see you, my young friend. Now, as promised I shall explain my true role to you." Igor began. "It is my job to create new Personas. But in order to do that, I must fuse your Persona cards together. In other words, I shall merge them into a single Persona."

"And I take it that depending on the Arcana of the Persona, my Social Links will have an effect on them?"

Igor nodded. "That is correct. For example, if you were to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana, they would be imparted with power from the bond you have with your friend."

"Okay, makes sense." I nodded. "Whelp, Imma go kill some shadows, get more 'sonas, then drop by later for some fusin'."

"Very well." Igor grinned as I stood up, then went out the door.

"Hey, is staring in the corner like that gonna become a regular thing with you, dude?" Junpei asked as I approached the group at the stairs. "You're supposed to be our leader!"

"Cut me some slack." I grunted. "Now c'mon, we got Shadows to kill."

* * *

Three floors up and I now have five 'sonas in my head; Orpheus, Apsaras, Pixie, Angel, and Forneus. On that note, Orpheus spat out this weird card not too long ago, so I'll have to ask Igor about that. So far managed to avoid using anything other then Orph, but now I feel like screwing with everyone because we just found some Merciless Mayas and they're weak to ice.

And what does Apsaras have? Ice. Mind Screw time!

"Apsaras!" **BANG**

She appeared and one got hit with ice, knocking it down. There's four total, so as time slowed for me I had Apsaras freeze the hell out of them all.

"Here's our chance for an All-Out Attack!"

"Go for it!" I charged in with Junpei and Yukari hot on my heels.

"LEMME AT 'EM!" I like Yukari's spunk right now.

Cue Big Ball of Violence and four very dead shadows.

"Dude, how did you do that?" Junpei asked. "I thought your Persona was Orpheus!"

"Oh he is." I switched to him and blasted him out. He waved his hand before vanishing. "I just have more then one 'sona in my head besides him. Five total at the moment."

_"A-Amazing!"_ Mitsuru sounds surprised. _"But, that shouldn't be possible!"_

"Nothing is impossible." I stated. "I have more then one, but can only use one at a time."

_"This is incredible..."_ commented Mitsuru. _"Someone capable of wielding multiple Personae..."_

"Please don't make a big deal out of this." I grumbled. "I hate getting special treatment, and I don't want to loose friends over this."

Junpei looked at me with surprise while Yukari seemed confused. I just shrugged and we went on to head up the tower a little further. Ended up snaggin' another 'sona, Omoikane(some kind of freaky brain monster thing) before we got to this big, sprawly-lookin' floor.

_"Be careful!"_ Mitsuru exclaimed. _"I sense three powerful Shadows in the center of this floor! They're not like the ones you've fought before."_

Oh hell. We need to get back down so I can try out that fusion thing. I started down a hallway and spotted what looked like that crazy teleporter gizmo at the lobby.

_"Excuse moi, but please could you have a look at that device near you?"_

"On it." I poked the controls on it, the thing lit up, and presto! Back to the lobby. And now the gizmo down here is glowing and stuff. "Hey, cool, looks like it's working now!"

"Indeed..." Mitsuru noted. "It seems we can return to other floors with this device..."

"Handy." I commented, walking towards the corner. "You guys catch your breath, Imma go zone out for a minute before we kick ass."

* * *

"Hey Igor, I'm back." I said as I plopped down in the chair, then held out four Persona cards. "Now what can I get for these guys?"

Turns out the answer was not much, I'm still not powerful enough for a few of these bigger 'sonas, though I was able to cash in for two new ones; Nekomata, a Magician Arcana catgirl who starts fires and cuts faces, and Lilim, a Devil Arcana demon girl capable of using all four elements. Shit's gonna get wrecked.

I hummed to myself as I walked towards the teleporter, getting odd looks from Yukari and Junpei. Seriously, why does everyone look at me like I'm crazy all the time? Oh, right, because I am. Ah well.

"C'mon, let's go." I grunted, stepping onto the Teleporter. "Gonna kill these things then call it a night."

They climbed on after me and I hit the button for the fifth floor. Up we went, then around the corner where three huge bird things with yellow masks were glaring at us. Ugly buggers.

"LILIM!"

**BANG**

Okay, these guys don't like ice. SPAM ATTACK! And now they're all down.

"Here's our chance! Let's get 'em!"

"Charge!" I shouted as I ran towards them.

Cue Big Ball of Violence... For about five seconds before the damn things booted us back, then started slingin' around Wind Magic. This is gonna suck, especially for Junpei, but I shall not stand for this. I rushed the nearest bird, punched it twice, gave it a quick kick, then delivered a brutal right-handed punch to send the thing crashing backwards.

And now time is slowing like when I strike weaknesses! KICKASS. I whipped out my Evoker again and had Lilim freeze blast another bird just as Yukari sniped the last one, knocking it down as well, so either these things are weak to pierce attacks or she did that same thing I did. Either way, we're butchering these Shadows.

"RUSH 'EM!"

Junpei charged in behind me and came down on the nearest Shadow like a hurricane. I've never seen him quite this pissed off. Yukari just kept firing arrows, while I introduced the face of the one next to me to the heel of my size twelve boot. Repeatedly. When all was said and done, I ended up with another bunch of cards in my face. I opted to get the sword this time, and suddenly found a new longsword in my hands.

"Hey, Mitsuru-senpai?"

_"What is it, Fortune?"_

"I think it's safe to say that my abilities go against not only everything you know about Personas..." I began, "...but also against most conventional laws of physics. And reality."

_"Are you referring to how that sword appeared in your hands?"_

"Very much so." I replied, picking up a few masks that fell from the slain shadows and stuffing them in my bag because loot is loot and I can probably sell them for money. "But whatever, we're packin' it in for the night."

* * *

The trip back to the dorm was certainly interesting. Mitsuru convinced me to tell her about the spooky card shuffle thing that I honestly couldn't fully explain while Junpei was busy bein' stoked about the free new sword.

Ah hell, I forgot to ask Igor about the card Orpheus gave me when I was fusing 'sonas... Damn it... Ah, the heck with it, I'll worry about it tomorrow or something.

* * *

Passed some girls chatting about sports teams at the school recruiting on the way to school the next morning. Figure I could do with some non-Tartarus training, so I decided to check them out after school. Five teams were recruiting - Track, Swimming, Volleyball, Tennis, and Kendo.

I'm not big on Swimming, I hate Volleyball, I don't have the discipline for Kendo, and Track is just running around in a huge ass circle faster then the guy next to you, so I opted for Tennis.

Met three people when I signed up; Hamuko Arisato, another hopeful applicant who's in my class, and Kazushi Miyamoto and Rio Iwasaki, the best players on the team. They let me and Hamuko hang around and just watch, and hot freaking DAMN, they are good. Also triggered the Chariot Arcana Social Link apparently, and it's with both Kaz, as he insisted I call him, and Rio. Yay more friends. Went back to the dorm and Yukari pestered me about whether or not I'd joined a club. I told her I did and she seemed impressed.

I'm beginning to worry Yukari's got a thing for me. Please dear god let us get a new transfer student soon. Preferably one who looks like he could be a love interest in a shoujo manga. I don't want Yukari swooning over me. I mean sure, she's hot, but I KNOW she's not my type.

* * *

Next day was as boring as the last. Passed those chatty girls from the day before as well and they mentioned a bookstore at the Iwatodai Station was having a grand reopening, and Tennis wasn't meeting today so I checked it out after school. Met the rather funny old guy and his wife who run the place, and they asked me about a Persimmon Tree back at school.

At first I wondered what the hell they were talking about, then I remembered the tree near the athletics building. Out of curiosity, and because I'm pretty sure I can get a Social Link out of this if my instincts are correct, I went back to school and snagged a couple good leaves from the ground near the tree and brought them back.

"Excuse me, but may I see the leaf in your hand?" He noticed before I could say 'hey, I got this from that tree you were talking about' and snatched it from my hand.

"It must have grown quite a bit to produce such splendid leaves..." he commented, gently turning the leaf over in his hands before looking up at me. "Wait, so you didn't come here to buy books? Did you come here just to show us this?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "You asked me about it, so I though I'd check it out."

"I knew it! I knew right from the start that you're a kind young man!" Flattery will get you nowhere with me dude, but thanks. "I've been meaning to go see that tree for a while now, but I'm not sure if these stumpy old legs will make it that far."

I cracked up and damn near toppled over a stack of books when I grabbed at the counter to keep from falling over. When I was finally able to breathe again, the old man looked at me with a smile on his face.

"That wasn't supposed to be a pun, ya know." He admitted.

"Still funny." I smirked.

"Allow me to introduce my wife Mitsuko." He motioned to the woman next to him. "I'm Bunkichi. If you don't mind, would you tell us your name?"

"Roy Fortune." I replied.

"So your name is Roy Fortune? That means we'll call your Roy-chan from now on!"

Mental facepalm.

**CRASH**

Oh hai Social Link voice.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana.'_

I think we'll hit Tartarus tonight. I feel like crushing skulls with my hands. And to ask about that card Orph gave me.

* * *

Pestered Igor about the card at Tartarus. Apparently my Personas will spit out a card with a skill on it after I keep them around long enough, and I can then use that card to teach a skill to another persona, regardless of whether or not they learn it normally. Also turns out the card Orph gave me was for the basic fire spell Agi, so I can teach any persona I get how to kill shit with fire.

This is all kinds of kickass.

And as we found out when we went back up to the fifth floor, areas with powerful shadows have crazy awesome loot on them. Like this stuff called Soma - it'll heal any and all wounds and restore your mental stamina. Mitsuru was practically a giddy schoolgirl when we told her and demanded we refrain from using it so the Kirijo group could replicate it. To make sure of that, I took the case down to her myself before we went on.

I swear, her eyes were SPARKLING when I handed her that thing. Seeing Mitsuru acting like that is creepy. Also moderately terrifying.

We slowly crawled up the tower, managing to make it to the next set of big shadows, and I re-stocked on 'sonas, before we all decided 'fuck it, need sleep' and then went back to the dorm.

* * *

Author Note- Yeah, Junpei is Roy's Magician Link. I really don't like Kenji all that much, but he'll still show up from time to time in Junpei's link. And the Chariot Link will have a combonation of events from both Kaz and Rio's versions of the link. I also probably surprised the hell out of people with Hamuko, the P3P FeMC, making an appearance. Yeah, she has a part in the story as well, though it's rather small. Mostly just some cameos durring a few Social Links.

Also, yes, Roy's got Skill Cards. They fit with his theme very well, plus I've actually never seen people mention them in fanfics, so I figured 'why the hell not?'. Plus I may or may not have some evil plans involving them. Maybe.

Anywho, this MIGHT be the last chapter I put up today, but if I finish fixing more of the story, I'll throw up a few more. But for now, Enjoy!


	6. Lunar Hierophant

Sunday was great. No school, and Junpei wanted to hang so we did. Stopped by the music store at the mall and I got me some new tunage and introduced Junpei to the kind of awesome stuff I listened to. Then we proceeded to own each other at various games at the arcade. In all? It was a good day.

Monday started off with bullshit. How so? Simple! The principal decided to have his own motivational speech because apparently the one Mitsuru gave last week made him feel the need to show her up. I told Junpei to wake me up when it was over and fell asleep to the sound of something worth listening to - Music. It was Yukari who shook the two of us awake when the assembly was over.

Class was boring, and Mitsuru came in at lunch and asked for my help after class. I agreed because it's MITSURU asking for HELP, something I didn't expect to see basically ever despite only knowing her for about two weeks. So I waited around after class and she showed up.

"I apologize for making you wait." Only been five minutes. It's cool. "To make a long story short, I want you to join Student Council." What. "It's not like you'd have to participate in every activity, just come to the Student Council room when you have time." Oh, okay, cool. "Being President is very time consuming. I'd like to have additional help available in the event of an emergency. You understand my situation... I'm asking you because you know what it's like to be a leader."

"Not especially, but I know enough." I admitted. "I'll help out."

"I knew I could count on you." Mitsuru gave a relieved smile.

"Hey, we're friends." I commented with a smirk. "Friends help each other."

Corny, I know, but that's how I roll. One trip to the faculty officer later, and now I'm standing with Mitsuru in the Council Room.

"Everyone, this is Roy Fortune." She announced, indicating me with her left hand. "He's the one I've been talking about the past few days. He'll be joining us in Student Council."

"Roy-kun, huh..." This guy's sizing me up. And I detect an Arcana from him. "I'm Hidetoshi Odagiri. I supervise the disciplinary committee."

"I'm Chihiro Fushimi, the treasurer." Wow, she's nervous. Not even looking at me. "I'm a sophomore, and um... I'm still learning the ropes, so... please be patient with me, Roy-san."

"You must be talented if the President hand-picked you." mused Hidetoshi, rubbing his chin. He's either got some respect for that or he sees be as a threat. And I think it's about that time...

**CRASH**

Social Link GO!

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana.'_

Kickass. And now I just noticed that everyone in the room has an Arcana. Chihiro's is Justice, and the two other members are Magician and Star. Huh. Wonder how I've missed that before now. Ah well.

* * *

Next few days were boring. I bumped up ranks on links with Junpei, Kaz 'n Rio, and the Bookworms couple, failed at starting one with Chihiro, and started a new one on an MMO.

That last one scared me at first, then I realized the implications. I'm technically channeling the power of the Internet into my Personas now. This shall be all kinds of badass. I hope. Haven't gotten any Hermit Arcana 'sonas yet.

The bumping up of the one with the Bookworms couple bummed me out, though. Turns out their son died. Managed to cheer them up a bit before I left with a few jokes I knew, and they seemed to appreciate it. Bunkichi also gave me some Melon Bread on my way out. Stuff is DELICIOUS.

Even with Tartarus grinds and slaughtering the hell out of shadows, it's been a seriously boring week. Oh, and now Elizabeth has me takin' requests for shit I get in Tartarus and around town and is giving me sweet loot for it. Current favorite piece of sweet loot is this awesome replica of my jacket that's made of this armor-like thread stuff that increases my spiritual power, meaning I can spam Persona spells more, on top of letting me shrug off most physical attacks because of how tough it is that she gave me when I brought her a Muscle Drink.

Hanging with Junpei was actually the highlight of the week. Went to see this movie called 'Double-Barreled Justice'. To me it seemed like a Japanese spoof of an American Action movie just by looking at the poster, but it was surprisingly complex and completely AWESOME. Junpei was a bit out of it when it was over because of the sympathetic backstory for the villian, but when I pointed out Darth Vader's technically the same way and he grudgingly admitted that it does work sometimes. Also that, in general, Star Wars is awesome.

But right now, it's Friday and Yukari bitched at me about the warm weather on the way to school. I completely agree, I like winter. Summer sucks ass. Also because it makes it hard to wear my jacket, and I'm just not as badass without it.

Junpei snagged me after School before I could make it to the Student Council room, askin' me if I wanted to tag along to the hospital to bring Akihiko something. Yukari was a bitch to him, like usual, so I agreed to go along. Figured I could make it up to Hidetoshi on Monday. When we got there, I had my first real curveball come outta left field in the form of this badass dude with a beanie and dark maroon coat waiting in the hosptial room instead of Akihiko.

"Umm... Is... Akihiko-senpai..." Junpei's tripping over his words, and now Captain Trench is glaring at him. "In this room? By any chance?"

Akihiko came in at that point, but I was focused on the jacket guy for two reasons. First, he's got one HELL of a beastly powerful Persona called Castor. Second, he has two Arcana. That really threw me off, because one is Hierophant, matching his Persona, and the other is Moon.

That made no sense to me, then I looked at Akihiko as the Badass guy left and noticed he had a pair of Arcana as well. Emperor, like his Persona Polydeuces, and Star. I should ask Igor about that.

* * *

"So, who was he?" I asked Akihiko as the four of us walked back to the dorm.

"Who was who?"

"Your pal back at the hospital." I told him. "And don't give me that 'just a friend' crap, I sensed his Persona."

That stopped everyone cold. Oh right, I never mentioned I could do that.

"You can sense Persona?" Yukari looked at me with surprise.

"Names and Arcana, yeah." I replied. "Not what they do. I can also get a feel for how powerful they are and, to be honest, that guy's strong enough to crush all of us without breaking a sweat." I turned to Akihiko. "So what's his story?"

Akihiko sighed. "Shinji was one of the original members of SEES along with Mitsuru and me."

"You guys have a falling out?" I raised an eyebrow. Yukari and Junpei must be in a state of stunned silence or something. "Must have if he's not helping us."

"Something like that." replied the boxer, looking downwards. "I've been trying to get him to come back for the last two years, but he's stubborn." He looked up at us. "For now, just leave him alone, okay? I'll be the one to worry about getting him."

I shrugged. "Erright."

Yukari and Junpei added their own agreement, and I decided to skip out on Tartarus tonight because I didn't feel like killing anything so nothing much else happened.

* * *

Now it's Saturday. I slept in past my alarm, so I'm rushing out the door. But, Hey, we get a three day weekend because of a holiday or something, so whatever. Bumped into Chihiroon the train and tried to strike up a conversation with her, but still no dice. I'd really like to Social Link with someone who's not old or a dude. Rio doesn't count because she shares a link with Kaz.

I started out of the classroom once school was over, and to my surprise Chihiro was there waiting for me.

"U-Um, R-Roy-san?" And she's tripping over her words. A lot. I have a hunch about what she wants to ask.

"Sure." I said, smirking as she looked at me in surprise. "I'll walk home with ya."

She blinked a few times, then smiled, and we started towards the shoe lockers. I still don't get that. Doubt I ever will.

"I-is it... um... really okay?" She asked, still nervous. "I'm glad you agreed, b-but..."

I chuckled. "It's fine, seriously." I gave her a sympathetic smile. "Just relax."

"Y-Yeah..." Chihiro replied weakly as we changed shoes and started out of the building. "I'm not very good at talking to boys because of my phobia. There's a lot of guys in student council, s-so maybe I should work on that..."

"Well, you're talking to me." I smirked again. "So I'd say you're doin' better already."

"Th-Thank you!" Heh, she has a cute smile.

The rest of the walk to the station was boring, so was the train ride to the mainland, and most of the trip back to the dorm. She's been really quiet.

"Chihiro-san, you okay?" I asked. I think I startled her.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!" She apologized. "I was just thinking... about what to say..."

"Eh?"

"I was trying to come up with a topic you might be interested in, Roy-san... but, I couldn't think of anything..."

"It's okay." I patted her shoulder. "Honestly I couldn't think of anything to talk about either." I looked up and oh hey, there's the dorm. "Oh huh, we're here."

"This is the Iwatodai Dorm, right?" Chihirolooked up at me. Then again, everyone does because I'm so goddamn tall. "You live here, Roy-san?"

"Yeah, until I finish high school." I replied with a shrug. Chihiro shifted uneasily.

"My house is in the other direction..."

"Really?" I'm feeling more generous then normal right now. "Well, I'll walk you home then."

"Don't feel sorry!" She pleaded, waving one of her hands franticly. "Please! It's my fault... I kn-"

"I don't feel sorry." I sated, cutting her off. "And it's no trouble for me. Just come in for a second so I can dump my stuff in my room."

"O-Okay..." She's blushing now. "Um... Th-thank you for.. um... making time for me, Roy-san..."

I smiled. "Hey, that's what friends do."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

Oh hells yeah.

* * *

"Good evening."

**"YOU CAN'T PROVE I MICROWAVED THAT GRENADE!" **I shouted as I shot upright in my bed during the Dark Hour. Oh, hey, it's Jailhouse Kid again. "Oh, uh, hey there."

"It's been a while. Are you well?"

"For the most part." Just hoping nobody heard me shouting. That's going to be awkward to explain.

"One week from now, there will be a full moon." He told me with a smirk. "Be careful. A new ordeal awaits you..."

He stood up.

"You will encounter one of THEM." Them...? "You must prepare for the ordeal, but time is of the essence..."

"After all, no one can escape time." I smirked. "And it delivers us all to the same end."

He chuckled. "Indeed. I'll come see you again when it's over."

"Erright." I grunted. "Later days, kid."

"Goodbye." And then he just vanished.

Seriously, next time he shows up Imma ask him how the crap he does that.

* * *

Nothing to do this Sunday, so I checked out this Tanaka dude's show and vowed to never to it again because of that fucking jingle. Didn't even bother buying the shit he was selling, it's likely useless. Hey wait, I might be able to bump into Maya on that MMO today... Eh, worth a shot.

Logged onto Innocent Sin Online. Popped up in the hospital, same as last time. I like the look of my dude. He's stylin' with that jacket. Too bad there was no option to give hima fedora. And there's Maya! Sweet.

[wb, tatsuya *^_^*] she greeted. [good to see u again. U remember me rite? =/]

[Of course!] I couldn't resist the chance for a good meme. [I'd never forget a friend, Maya.]

[u really DO remember!1 n_n] Her avatar did a victory pose. [this is exactly liek when maya and tatsuya remember. ^_^-b]

[Heh.] I don't even know what she's talking about, to be honest. I'm just rolling with it.

[hmm...what kinda people r we, playing inside on such a beautiful day?] Maya's character sighed. [yeah, games r cool, but like...(gawd this sounds pathetic-) there isn't much else that intersts me, ya know? ._.]

[Yeah, I know what cha' mean.] My dude shrugged. [But meh.]

[lol... we're s'posed to be leveling, but we jus keep on chatting =3] She threw a spell at some nearby enemies and they died horribly. [but hey, grinding gets old rite? its more fun talkin to u, tatsuya]

I smirked. [I agree.]

**CRASH**

RANKU UP!

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana.'_

Maya logged off after that, and I still had some time to burn so I went for a stroll around the city. Ended up hangin' around the Arcade for a while and played this fighting game called BlazBlue. Damn fun, it is. Got back to the dorm a bit later and, seeing as it's this huge awesome weekend thing, decided to screw the rules and stay up late playing Innocent Sin. I logged on and, to my surprise, Maya was there.

[hi hi! i was waiting for u! =)] her avatar stood up and walked towards me, then rubbed the back of her neck. [so ummmmm... i'm drunk! xD]

And she can type? Damn, this chick is hardcore. [O RLY?] Memes are just too goddamn tempting sometimes. Really.

[YA RLY! ^o^] her avatar then grabbed hold of my guy and shook him a few times. [save me tatsu! i'm sick of my job! no tiem to party T_T 3 beers an countign!11 will u hold my hair bakc? heheh] her character backed off and sat down on a nearby bench. [rawr, i even have to work from homo this weekend... =( home*** LOL!]

[Hahaha] My dude chuckled and walked over. [Epic typo is epic, but should you really be goofing off like this?]

[dun worry, i'm on a break you know =P it didn't use to be liek this T_T i never had to work weekends but lately i cant get motivated to get ne work done work]

[What, don't you like your job?]

[i luv it!] her avatar sprang to her feet. [its waht i always wanted to do since i was a kid. ^_^] she sat back down. [its been 8 yrs tho... maybe i'm jus bored? =/ ugh...sometimes i wish everything would slow down a bit...^_^; why do i play this game even tho i hav better things to do? lol i dun talk like this irl i swaer! its jus an online habit =P I suppose I should type correctly like this, but im just lazy, eheheh]

I feel like imagining her sounding like Ms. Toriumi because of how hilarious it would be to hear my composition teacher talking like this.

[i rly like how you have good spelling and punctuation online. that's so 1337.]

[Why thank you.] You have to imagine that sounding smug. Because that's my intention.

**CRASH**

Wait what

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana.'_

Holy hell, I got two ranks on that in one day? Kickass.

Maya then asked if I ever said 'lol' out loud before freaking out that she could get fired if she did that. The hell kind of job does she have, anyways?

* * *

Rest of my weekend can be summed up as thus; NOTHING. Maya wasn't online, so I hung out at Bookworms on Tuesday because I'm an idiot and forgot they're closed on Monday. Didn't rank the link, but did get this sorta feelin' like I would the next time I hung out with them. Good to know, I suppose. Wednesday was nothing special, apart from startin' the Hanged Man Social Link with this little girl named Maiko. Cute kid.

Rio stopped me at lunchtime on Thursday and asked if I could make it to practice. Hadn't been in a while so I said I'd stop by. Technically speaking, the guys and girls are seperate teams, but seeing as the teacher who manages the girls team basicly never shows up, the Coach for the guys team asked me to help them out because there's a lot more players for the guy's team, so it's not like I'd get to practice very much anyways. So now I'm over on the courts the girls use and it's almost completely empty apart from me, Rio, Hamuko, and three other girls.

"Is this it today?" Rio's a bit miffed. "Where's everyone else?"

One of the girls shrugged. "No clue."

"Excuse me!" An energetic girl with short blue hair and tan skin quickly bounded towards us. "Could I borrow some of you guys' tape?"

"Oh, Yuko..." Oh right, that's Yuko Nishiwaki. Strength Arcana. She's the manager for the guy's team. Didn't mention her because she was busy when I showed up the first day, but she was last time. In a story related to that, I am apparently now Kaz's rival.

"Sorry, we ran out." She apologized. "Is it okay if I take some from the box?" She looked at the lack of members. "Doesn't look like you have too many people here today, huh."

"Yeah..." Rio sighed. I heard Hamuko sigh as well.

"I wonder if they heard about that group date..." Yuko mused, tapping her finger on her chin before sighing. "Seriously, I don't know if I should be appalled or jealous..."

"Can I vote for both?" I chimed in, raising my hand. I heard Hamuko giggling next to me.

"Hey, you idiot!" snapped one of the girls, glaring at Yuko.

"Group date?" Wow, Rio's actually scary when she's angry.

"Oh..." Yuko blinked a few times. "Ohhhhhh... You didn't know..." She looked apologetic. "Sorry, I heard the girls from your team talking about it at the shoe lockers..."

"So, everyone went to that?"

"Not everyone!" Hamuko stated. "Shouko-san wasn't in class today."

Oh right, one of the other girls on the team's in our class. Forgot about that.

The other girls were silent and nervously looking at each other.

"That's stupid..." growled Rio. "Why'd they hide it from me? All this running around behind my back is so irritating!"

"I agree." Hamuko commented, crossing her arms.

"Likewise." I added. It's probably a bad sign that I'm one of the most dedicated members on the team, and I don't even show up all the time.

"You'd get angry if we told you..."

"Of course I'd get angry!" Typhoon Rio is now in full force. Cue Yuko and Hamuko trying to get her to chill.

"What a pain..." griped the last of the three girls who actually showed. Pretty sure her name's Shizuka. "They're just taking a breather. What's wrong with that?"

"You call a group date 'taking a breather?'" Both me and Rio said that at the same time. I'M getting pissed now.

"Yes!" snapped Shizuka. "I don't expect someone who's never been in a relationship to understand it, though!" Now she's all in a huff. And my rage is reaching Critical Mass. "And what's with that attitude of yours all the time! Who do you think you a-"

"URUSAI." I shouted, standing up from the bench I was on. That got everyone's attention. "If you got a problem with how she's running things, then you idiots shouldn't have asked her to be in charge!"

"Well, if we knew she'd turn out like this, we never wou-"

**"I SAID SHUT YOUR BITCH HOLES."** I roared, pointing at the three of them. "YOU joined the team, YOU showed up, and YOU put her in charge, so you know what? If you don't fucking like it, get the fuck out of here before I MAKE you leave."

Shizuka narrowed her eyes at me. "You wouldn't da-"

I was looming over her with a death glare before she could finish. "Try me."

She shrank back along with her friends, but she was still trying to act tough. "Screw this! This isn't worth my time... I'm done with this stupid club!" She glared at Rio. "You're a pain in the ass, and I don't care about kee-"

_**"JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE IF YOU'RE GONNA."**_

That sent them scurrying off without another word. I was panting, then I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. Gotta keep it chill.

"I-I'm sorry about that..." Yuko looked down at her feet as I turned back to face the others.

"It's not your fault, Yuko..." sighed Rio.

"It's nobody's fault but their own." Very true, Hamuko. Very true.

Yuko looked up at Rio, and tried to offer to help but Rio agreed with Hamuko's sentiment. Yuko then sighed and left, and I got a slightly confused look from Rio.

"Why'd you yell at them like that?"

"Simple." I picked up a racket and rested it on my shoulder. "I'm kinda like you. People going behind my back about shit bugs me, and the fact they were trying to justify it only made it worse." I walked over and grabbed a few tennis balls. "Now c'mon, I'll help you two practice while most of the rest of your team is off being stupid."

Rio and Hamuko smiled and nodded, grabbing their own rackets.

**CRASH**

Aw yeah.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana.'_

We did some basic stuff and everything seemed cool, but Rio opted to just pack it in early so I went along with it. Surprisingly, I bumped into Chihiro on my way out of school so I opted to hang with her as well, especially because she wanted to head to Bookworms. I wanna see if I can get three links to go up in one day. If so, I'm totally going to multi-task on these damn things so I can free up some time to do other stuff.

* * *

Got to Bookworms with Chihiro and she disappeared into the stacks of books with an eager smile on her face. I opted to talk to Bunkichi, and he asked me to help him find his wallet. With no goddamn luck. Stupid thing can't have just vani-

"Konnichiwa, 'ello!" Good lord what the fuck has just assaulted my god damn ears. I looked over and saw the blonde kid from the first day. Temperance Arcana. Heh, nice shirt, dude. "I found zis on ze ground outside!" He handed a wallet to Bunkichi. "Eez eet yours?"

"Wow! This it! I've been looking for this wallet everywhere!" Bunkichi grinned. "Well, it's not a golden wallet, but I'm still happy to have it back!"

Blonde boy bowed, then looked at me. "Sumimasen, excuse me..." Stop fucking repeating yourself god damn it. "Aren't you zetransfer student everyone eez talking about?" I nodded grimly. FUCKING RUMORS. "I go to zee same school - Gekkoukan! I came 'ere from France to study abroad. My name eez Andre Laurent Jean Geraux."

"Nice to meet you, name's Roy Fortune." I grimaced slightly. "But uh, what do people call you? No offence, but your name's kinda long..."

"Zey call me Bebe!"

"How the _FUCK_ can anyone get Bebe from that?" I asked incredulously. He shrugged.

"Hajime mashite, it eez nice to meet you!" I think it's a bad sign he doesn't even know how he got his nickname. "I work in the Home Economics Room everyday after school! If you get bored, come and stay for a bit!"

I detect Social Linkage. But perhaps later, I've got enough to worry about at the moment. "Erright. Might just take you up on that offer sometime."

"Sayonara, goodbye!" STOP FUCKING DOING THAT AUGH. Ah well, he left so now maybe my ears will stop trying to bleed.

"Well... he seemed like an interesting young man." Understatement of the century, Mitsuko.

"Hmm..." Bunkichi's digging through that wallet of his. "I thought I put it in my wallet so I wouldn't lose it... ah, here it is! I knew it was in here!" He held up a key triumphantly.

"Dear?" Mitsuko sounds shaken... "Is that the key for...?"

"Come on dear, you know what it is. It's the key for our son's car." I sense bad juju... "Seeing Roy-chanreminded me of how things used to be. I haven't heard the roar of the engine in a long time. How do I look, dear?"

"Please don't! Why must you get into a car?" Whoa, holy crap... "Do you want me to end up all alone?"

I looked over my shoulder and Chihiro was staring at us with a worried expression, several books in her arms.

"Um... I'm sorry for raising my voice." Apologized Mitsuko. "Did I scare you?"

I shrugged. "Kinda."

"Our son. Remember what I told you? How he passed away..." Bunkichi sighed. "One the way home from work, he got into an accident. He was hit by a dump truck driver who was drunk on the job." He turned away from me. "Roy-chan, please punch me...punch me for being so insensitive. With all my excitement, I forgot to consider how my wife might feel. I'm such a...such a..."

"Hey, it's cool." I patted him on the shoulder. "Besides, I don't beat up old guys." I smirked at him as he looked back at me. "If anything, you should be smacking me with a cane and yellin' at me for bein' a rowdy youngin' with no respect and stuff like that."

**CRASH**

Time and place, this is fucking neither.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana.'_

That one felt just plain WRONG.

"Thanks for searching with us, Roy-chan." He smiled and stuffed a packet of medicine into my pocket. "Here's your allowance."

I don't even know.

Chihiro walked over and paid for a few books, then we walked out of the store. She looked at me apologetically.

"I was so busy searching through the books... I'm sorry if I ignored you, Roy-san. Um, sorry I took so long." It's cool. "I had trouble choosing... this place has so many interesting books! I was having so much trouble deciding." She looked thoughtful for a second, then looked back at me. "Do you read much, Roy-san?"

"Not that much, but I read manga when I get the chance."

"I love manga too." She smiled. "My shelf is full of girls' manga. I tend to get frustrated when the main character can't ask out the guy she likes, because I can relate to her..." She then shook her head quickly. "...Oh, I'm sorry! This, um, probably isn't the best place to talk. We may be disturbing other patrons."

I chuckled as we started walking off. "I think we're fine."

A little ways away from the store, she looked at me. "Um, Roy-san? Is it b-boring to hang out with, um, a nerd like me?"

"You're not a nerd, Chihiro-san." I tilted my head back slightly to look at her. "And boring is listening to Mr. Ekoda's lessons."

She giggled. "I-I'm glad to hear that. I've been worried about it for a while..." Why does she keep trailing off like that? "T-Today, I was able to be myself with you, Roy-san." She looked at me again and smiled. "That's a big step for me... thank you."

**CRASH**

THREE RANK COMBO! WOOHOO!

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

I smiled at Chihiro. "You're welcome."

* * *

Author Notes - No, Roy is not going to date Chihiro either. And you now have the excuse for Roy to be around for some of the scenes with Rio. Also, fun fact, Chapter 3 is currently the longest chapter of the story at over 6,800 words. And yes, there will be events spread over several chapters once I start getting to the actually interesting bits(basicly everything that comes after Fuuka joins SEES) of the game.

And I hope you readers found the bit when Roy wakes up to talk to Pharos funny. And yes, I know that both the Fairly English Story and Lusnati Style had a similar event with Chihiro's link and the Bookworms couple's link ranking up at the same time. It just works, okay? STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT. Besides, it won't happen again. I have other plans for Chihiro's link.


	7. Hijacked by Shadows

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner!

**DarknessLightWolf **- While yes, Colonel Roy Mustang from FMA is increadably awesome, I honestly don't think the Persona Universe could handle him without exploding the moment he encountered Shinjiro. And thanks for the compliments, I liked your "Fused Dimentions" story. Ryoji's suffering made me chuckle.

Now, it's time for the first full moon Operation and moar Social Links! Enjoy!

* * *

Dropped by the Student Council room the next day. Figure'd I'd check it out, seeing as I got a link with Hidetoshi. Speaking of him, he stopped me before I left once the meeting was over.

"I'd like to hear your opinion on something." He said. "It's nothing serious, but... Some students feel the school uniform should be abolished and they're recruiting supporters..."

"That's stupid." I grunted. "I mean, the uniform is one of my favorite things about this school, especially because they let students make tweaks to it. Why fix what ain't broke, anyways?"

Hidetoshi chuckled and grinned. "You're right about that. They think life without rules is freedom. Without rules, the whole system will collapse. They're mistaking selfishness for freedom." His grin faded. "...Sorry, I may have overreacted."

"Nah, you're fine."

"Thanks." He smiled again. "I just hate people with no common sense. Sometimes I can't believe the things that come out of their mouths." He then seemed to panic a little. "I don't mean you of course. I just want you to understand where I'm coming from."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana.'_

"I'm cool with that." I stood up and smirked. "And if you hate people with no common sense, avoid Kenji Tomochika from 2-F. Only sense he's got is a sense of taste."

Hide cracked up at that.

* * *

Now it's the day of the full moon, and accordin' to what Jailhouse said somethin' big's goin' down. But, I didn't want to get all wound up so I went to go link with someone to get the edge off. To my surprise, Chihiro came up and asked me to help with her homework. I agreed, because if a friend comes askin' fer help I will help. Unless there is something that is somehow more vitally important, like me not dieing horribly, to take care of. So now we're sittin' here in the school library workin' on math 'n stuff.

"...and that's how you solve that." I finished. Math is, without a doubt, my easiest subject. I'm just good with numbers, I guess. Chihiro gave a defeated sigh.

"A treasurer who's no good at math..." She frowned and looked at me. "I was chosen for this job without my consent... I never asked to be treasurer..." This is Mitsuru's fault. I just know it. "B-but if I didn't join Student Council, I never would've met you, right?"

"Shut up." Snapped a student across the table from us before I could say anything. "You're distracting us."

Chihiro shrank in her seat. "I'm sorry..."

"If you're gonna flirt with each other, do it outside."

"Shut up." I snarled at the guy. He scoffed, then went back to his own studying. A few minutes later, he gave out a loud sigh.

"I'm bored. My hand hurts from holding this pencil." He turned to the girl sitting next to him. "But you give me a kiss, I'll be able to study another 30 minutes."

What.

"Hey, not so loud..."

"C'mon, gimme a kiss! Please!"

"WHAT." I stood up and slammed my hands down on the table, my left eye twitching in exasperation. "And you got mad at US when Chihiro-san was just making small talk?" I don't even care people are staring at me. "The fuck gives you the right to get all snippy when you think she's flirting with me, then go ahead and start flirting with your friend there?"

"Geez man, what's your problem?" He gave me a disgusted look.

"Hey, leave them alone." The girl stood up and tugged at the guy's sleeve. "C'mon, let's go."

The guy grinned and followed her off. You have GOT to be shitting me. I sighed and sat down, slamming my head down on my textbook with a loud 'THUNK'. I'm very glad I took my hat off when we got here, or it'd have probably popped off my head when I did that.

"They're gonna kiss?" Chihiro sounds like she's panicking. "Wh-Where do they think they are?"

"No clue, but I'm glad they left or I was going to strangle those goddamn hypocrites." I grunted through the book. "Frickin' rude, if you ask me."

"That's right, Roy-san! I agree!" Chihiro seems fired up. "This is supposed to be a place of learning. And they're still just kids!" Very fired up. "I say this as a member of Student Council..." She's getting louder... "That kind of behavior shouldn't be tolerated at school!" She sprang to her feet, drawing attention to herself. "Let's discuss this in our next meeting!" I sat upright. "If you're on my side, Roy-san, I have nothing to fear!"

"Thanks, but uh, you might wanna chill." I tugged her sleeve a few times. "People are staring."

"O-oh!" She quickly sat down, blushing. "I-I shouldn't be so loud in the library..."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

"It's fine." I smirked, then started pointing at her homework. "Now, what you do with this problem is..."

* * *

Got back to the dorm a little while later, and decided to kill time till the Dark Hour by sketching again. You know that old painting of a bunch of dogs playing poker? I totally ripped that off and drew our Personas playin' poker. I was workin' on Polydeuces(I asked Akihiko to show us his Persona a few days ago because I was curious) when the alarm went off. Set my sketchpad down, threw on my armored jacket(still awesome), my hat, and my armband, then pulled on my evoker belt and grabbed the bag I keep my gauntlets in before headin' up to the command room.

Bumped into Junpei on the way up and, surprisingly, he was dressed 'n ready as well. We bolted up the stairs and found Yukari beat us to the room. And was still in her pajamas. Huh. Woulda figure'd she'd sleep in a nightgown.

"Where is it?" Junpei did a few mock punches in the air. "I'll rip it a new one!"

"We've detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus." Mitsuru stated. "We don't know for sure, but we think it's another big one." Oh hell. I hope this doesn't mean Black's gonna tear his way out of my head again. That sucked ass. "We have to defeat any of them we find as quickly as possible. Most people don't know that the Dark Hour exists, but if half the city is destroyed, there will be panic. That must be avoided at all costs."

As long as nothing's made of explodium, I think we'll be fine. Maybe.

"So in other words, we need to kick some ass right?" Junpei's got his murderous grin on his face. "Well count me in!"

Yukari sighed as Akihiko looked at us. "I'm going too."

"Like HELL." I stated flatly. "Sorry Senpai, but I don't think fighting eldritch monsters with a broken arm is a very good idea."

"He's right. Akihiko, you stay here and wait for the Chairman." ordered Mitsuru. "You still need to recover, you'll just be a hindrance. They'll fare better then you, in your current state."

Disgruntled Akihiko is disgruntled. He gave a defeated sigh and sat down at the computer bank.

"Have faith in them, Akihiko... they're ready."

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, Senpai, you get first crack at the next big one." I offered.

That got him to smirk. "I'll hold you to that, seeing as I've got no choice..." He looked right at me. "You're in charge."

Again?

"Him again...?" Junpei doesn't sound happy. I HAVE SOLUTION.

"In that case, I put Junpei in charge for this mission."

Wow. Unrehearsed simultaneous double take by four people.

"I've been leading the show in Tartarus, so I figure Junpei deserves a chance to show his stuff." I stated, shrugging. "If things get too rough, though, I'll step in, but otherwise Junpei's gonna call the shots."

Junpei's grinnin' like a madman. "That's what I'm talkin' about."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana.'_

Didn't see that coming.

* * *

The three of us hoofed it to the station and sat down 'n started chillin'. Even brought some snacks. One thing about the Dark Hour, for some reason only plain water turns to blood. Stuff like Soda or juice doesn't. Hell, even that vitamin water stuff doesn't. Kind weird, but meh. At least it means I shall never be deprived of Dr. Pepper.

"Where is she?" Yukari griped.

"Who knows?" Junpei and I shrugged in unison. It's scary how our minds seem to be working on the same wavelength sometimes. Scary in a very awesome way, but still scary.

Yukari groaned, then looked up. "There's a full moon tonight, but it looks even creepier during the Dark Hour."

"Eh, not that bad." I commented. "But whatever."

Then Mitsuru showed up on a motorcycle.

I'm only marginally surprised by this. The surprise is more the fact it's a motorbike then the fact it's working during the Dark Hour. Must be special.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." She apologized as she pulled off her helmet, shaking her head to let her hair down. Now I know how it feels to be James Bond when he meets the Bond Babe of the movie. "Listen carefully. Tonight, I'll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same, apart from Iori leading."

Junpei grinned, posing with his sword resting on his shoulder. He actually looks kind of badass like that.

"The Shadow is located in a monorail not far from the station. To get there, you'll have to walk on the tracks."

"You serious?" Junpei's grin faded. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"It's the Dark Hour, dude." I told him. "Nothing electronic works unless it's special like the stuff back at the dorm."

"Or Senpai's bike?" He looked at Mitsuru.

"Exactly." She smiled. "Now, if circumstances change, I'll notify you immediately. Let's get started."

* * *

Junpei was leading the charge down the tracks, and climbed into the train once we got there before me or Yukari could say anything. Yukari started to go up, but I stopped her.

"Let me go first." I said, glancing down at her skirt noticeably. She blushed slightly and nodded in agreement before I went up. I reached back and helped her into the train before bringing up a glaring concern.

"By the way guys, we just walked into a trap."

Cue the doors shutting behind us.

"Dude, why didn't you say anything?" Junpei snapped.

"One, you're in charge." I stated. "And two, we need to get in here to kill the big shadow anyways, so what's the big deal? Way I see it, the thing gave itself a death sentence."

"Oh yeah..." Junpei's grinning again before turning towards the other end of the car. "Alright you guys, let's go!"

We slowly stalked our way through the train, and the lack of Shadows got me nervous. I ended up not paying attention to my pace and slowly got ahead of Yukari and Junpei when something dropped down and latched onto my god damn head.

"FUCKING SHIT GET IT OFF ME!" I shouted, flailing around before throwing the Shadow off my head. I watched it run off through the door infront of us when I noticed something.

**"BITCH TOOK MY HAT."** I roared, charging after it. _**"IMMA FUCKIN' KILL IT."**_

I chased the god damn hat thief through two cars before I finally caught up to it and got ambushed by a bunch of his friends.

I punched one of the little hand-looking things into a Tiara, then called out Lilim to blast this weird table thing with an Agi while I dodged a Bufu from this red and blue scale thing. I kicked the scale at the table, summoning Lilim again to fry them with Zio as the hand and Tiara got back up. I jumped over the spells they threw at me, then stomped the hand into mush before grabbing the Tiara and violently ripping it appart by hand. And it was awesome. Plus I got my hat back, and that's the important thing.

"Roy!" I turned around as I put my hat on, Junpei and Yukari catching up to me finally.

"Are you okay?" Yukari looked at me with a worried expression.

"I'm fine." I replied. "What took you two so long?"

"We got jumped by Shadows right after you bolted, dude!" Oh.

Before Junpei could try to bitch me out for going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for my hat, Mitsuru chimed in with a warning to be careful despite the fact she couldn't detect anything moving around. As if on cue, the train lurched and started moving.

"Whoa, what the!" Junpei looked out one of the windows. "..Why're we moving?"

_"It seems the monorail is under the enemy's control..."_ Mitsuru stated grimly.

"Whaddaya mean 'it seems'?" snapped both me and Yukari at the same time.

Your thoughts, Junpei? "Uh... this doesn't look good..." Thank you.

_"If we can't stop that thing, it'll crash into another train!"_ Oh hell.

"Okay, Junpei, sorry dude but shit just got real so I'm taking charge." I said quickly. "Most logical place for the Big Shadow we're after to be is the front car, so we just need to rush in and slaughter the thing."

I turned around and put my hand on the door handle. "Alright chums, let's do this!" I threw open the door. I'm speaking in English, by the way. "LEEEEEEE**ROOOOOOOOY!" **I charged through it. "_**JEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!"**_

I need to cut down on the memes, but damn it are they fun.

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana.'_

Apparently Junpei agrees with that sentiment. Noice.

The shadows, however, decided to fucking Zerg Rush our asses and got treated to a facefull of Hermes s foot as Junpei's Persona shot past me and crashed into them, the man himself jumping into the fray right behind me as arrows sailed past us.

I punched a shadow to one side and it impacted another, stunning both long enough for Junpei to slay them with a home-run swing. He kicked one towards a pair headin' fer me and I busted out Lilim to freeze them. Then we opted to do the most badass thing possible; Completely improvised on the spot tag-team asskicking.

Seriously, we were working off of each others attacks, hell Junpei even vaulted over me to cleave a Shadow in half. Yukari got in on it a few times, succeeding in adding a few arrows to our improvised badassery. Now we're finally at the front car, so let's see what this bitch looks like! I threw open the door, not even waiting for Mitsuru to finish speaking and _**DAMN**_.

"What the hell!" Junpei sputtered. I don't blame him. It's a big black and white chick with a pink mask and a huge blanket thing over her legs with most of her hair all stickin' to the walls of the train. "Is this the friggin' boss?"

"About the only thing it can be!" I shouted. "So let's kill this thing before we all DIE HORRIBLY!" Evoker to my head. "Senpai, we need a scan!" **BANG**

_"Roger! I'll scan the enemy!"_ Nekomata was already blasting the shadow with fire, as was Junpei and Yukari added in a bit of wind so there was a sorta fire twister hitting the damn thing. Then it decided to bring in some friends, and out popped a bunch of smaller Shadows, Tiaras to be exact, between us and the big one.

_"The large Shadow is called The Priestess!"_ Mitsuru informed us as we Started trying to fight past the Tiaras. _"Bufu, Hama, and Mudo will have no effect on it!"_

"Thanks for the tip!" I replied, slamming a shadow to the ground before crushing it under my heel. I then made a break for the big one and leapt towards it, but its hair bitchslapped me aside and I rebounded off one of the walls and onto the floor.

"Roy!"

"I'm fine!" I rolled out of the way of a blast of ice from the Priestess. "Just hammer away at the big one!"

Fucking shit, this thing will not leave me alone! It keeps stabbing at me with its hair and Tiaras keep getting in the way of Yukari and Junpei, so the- "GAH! MY ARM!"

"ROY-KUN!"

"I'LL BE FINE!" **BANG** Yay Cadenza! Oh, right, never mentioned it, but apparently if I have certain Personas on hand, they can bust out combonation skills called Fusion Spells. Cadenza is this epic healing spell that heals all of us a lot and gives everybody a Sukukaja speed boost that I need Orpheus and Apsaras around to use. Very handy. But whatever, back to saving our asses!

I dodged under a Bufu that got shot my way, then stomped on a Tiara to use as a stepping stone to get closer to the Priestess. It swung its arm at me, but I grabbed hold and flipped over, driving my heel into its face. I hit the ground roughtly, then rolled out of the way of a couple hairs trying to skewer me before scrambling away from it. I spun around mid-step with my evoker ready and called forth Lilim again to blast it with a Zio.

Hermes and Io joined in with an Agi and Garu respectively, while Junpei himself was busy finishing off a Tiara and Yukari was slinging arrows at the big boss. The Preistess decided she wasn't going to have that, and called in a small horde of freaking Tiaras, about fifteen of the damn things, and three started healing their leader while the rest went after us.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I roared, slamming two of the small shadows together before diving out of the way of a few spells. There's hardly any room left in here to move with all these damn things!

"AUGH!"

"JUNPEI!"

I looked over to see Junpei down on one leg, wildly swinging his sword around to keep the shadows and the Priestess' hair's back. I smacked a Tiara aside as I turned towards Yukari, who was hiding behind a chair as the shadows after her kept throwing spells. I growled in frustration when the Priestess called in even MORE Tiaras.

_"You only have three minutes left!"_ Mitsuru informed us. Son of a bitch, there's not enough time with all these got damn things!

**'Then let me help.'**

I didn't have time to snap back at the random voice in my head when about six Tiaras decided to rush me. Without thinking, I swung out my right arm and a sharp wave of red energy shot out and ripped through the shadows, obliterating them. I blinked in surprise, then looked at my hand.

My gauntlet had mutated into a pitch-black substance with crimson red plates on it, giving me armored claws on my right hand. It was giving off a faint glow as well, so it was probably made of energy or something. I looked at my other hand and it was in a similar state.

I have no idea what is going on, but I'm gonna roll with it! The shadows saw my new weapons and decided it was time to Zerg Rush me, but I cut through them like nothing, then charged the Priestess. I think I heard Junpei shout 'what the hell?' as I slashed the hairs the shadow tried to attack me with before I lept up and drove the clawed fingers of my left gauntlet into its chest, pulling myself upward enough to drive my other hand through its head.

It fell onto its back with me still latched onto it. My fingers where completely around the mask of the Priestess, and it was screaming in what I'm going to assume is agony. Before it could try to grab me, I clenched my right hand slightly and pulled, ripping the mask off its head. It let out a shriek as I crushed the tiny mask in my hand, then evaporated into nothing.

I stood up and looked at my hands, and my gauntlets were back to normal. And the train hasn't stopped.

Shit. I heard Junpei and Yukari start to panic, so I quickly opened the control room door and grabbed the first, and biggest, lever I could and pulled as hard as I could. The sound of the train's brakes squealing filled my ears as Yukari screamed.

* * *

My eyes were shut tight, and I still have my hands on something. I think I'm still standing. I slowly opened an eye and I could see another Monorail train a short distance away through the front window. I opened my other eye and blinked a few times.

"D-Did we stop...?" I let got of the brake and slowly stepped out of the control booth after I heard Junpei. Him and Yukari were slowly staggering to their feet.

"I think so..." Yukari replied shakily.

_"Is everybody alright?"_

"Apart from almost dieing?" I asked, looking back and forth between Yukari and Junpei. "Yeah, we're good."

"Ha... my knees are still shaking..."

"Dude... I'm like drenched in sweat..."

_"I'm so glad you're safe..."_ Mitsuru sighed. _"I don't detect any more shadows. You guys did a great job, so come on home."_

Yukari looked at me. "But how did you know which one was the brake?"

"I didn't." I laughed nervously. "I just grabbed the first lever I saw."

"Dude..." Junpei chuckled slightly between breaths. "You're one lucky guy..."

**CRASH**

Noice.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana.'_

"Hey, you guys wanna grab a bite to eat?" Junpei asked as we managed to get out of the monorail and start back towards the station. "I'm starvin'."

"Wait till morning." I grunted. "Sleep needed for Roy to have proper brain functions."

* * *

Got back to the dorm, went to bed, then woke up around noon. My unfinished sketch was still on my desk, but I opted to work on that later. I got up, showered, then threw on some clothes. I staggered down to the lounge and everyone was there with several containers of take-out.

"Mornin'." I grunted, slumping onto the sofa next to Junpei.

"Good morning, Fortune." Mitsuru greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Good enough." I replied, looking at the take-out containers. I grabbed the nearest one. "What's this one?"

"Sweet 'n Sour Chicken." Akihiko replied through a mouthful of some kinda beef.

"Score." I popped the container open and dug into the food quickly.

"Fortune, I have a question for you." I looked over at Mitsuru as I chewed a bite of delicious chicken. "What happened to you last night?"

"Is this about the claws?" I asked after I swallowed my food. She nodded. "No clue."

They looked at me in stunned silence.

"Are you serious?" Junpei asked.

"Very." I told him. "I dunno how I did that, or if I can do it again."

"Do you recall what you where thinking before it happened?"

I nodded. "I was frustrated with all the smaller shadows, even moreso when Mitsuru-senpai told us the amount of time left." I set my food down. "Then I heard a voice in my head."

"A voice?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah. It said 'then let me help', and before I could try to yell at it or anything, BAM, I had those claws." I said. "Weird thing is the voice sounded kinda like mine."

"So..." Junpei raised an eyebrow. "You told yourself you'd help?"

"Dude, I don't even know." I shrugged, taking another bite of my food. "I'll see about trying to do it again next time we go to Tartarus, which is not today. We need a brake after what went down last night."

There were a few nods of agreement before we resumed chowing down.

* * *

Once I finished eating, I bolted back up to my room to grab my hat and coat, then headed out Paulowania Mall. I ducked into the back alley and slipped into the Velvet Room through the door.

"Hey Igor, Hello Elizabeth."

"Greetings, my young friend." I gotta wonder how Igor can grin like that all the time. He probably relaxes his face when I'm not around or something.

"It is good to see you, Master Roy." Elizabeth started walking towards me once I sat down. "Today I would like to begin offering my own services to you as well."

Oh really? "And what might that be?"

"The Persona Compendium." She handed me the thick book she always carried. "This book is a record of all Personae you have summoned, and you may record over the records at any time you deem fit." Elizabeth's lips curled into a small smile. "And I am capable of summoning any Persona registered within it, for a fee of course."

"Very reasonable." I said, opening the book. It was tabbed by Arcana, from Fool to Judgment. There was also a black tab after the Judgment section with no Arcana listed on it. "What's this?"

"I am unsure." She replied. "Other then it is a special Arcana that my Master has never seen a guest use before. Perhaps when you summon a Persona of this Arcana, we shall discover more about it."

"Huh." I flipped through some of the pages, noting the recall price on some of the 'sonas. I closed the compendium and handed it back to Elizabeth. "I'll be sure to make use of it when I need to. For now, I need to ask Igor something."

"I take it you are curious about what transpired against the large shadow last night?" I nodded. Igor's good. "Unfortunetly, I cannot answer that question. I have never seen a power like that before."

Oh great. Even Igor doesn't freaking know. Craaaaaaaaaaap.

* * *

Walked to school with Junpei the next day, and he was psyched about us savin' the day. Class was dull, and ever-boring Ekoda showed up and basically said "EXAMS ARE NEXT WEEK, BITCHES". Woo.

Hung out at Bookworms after school and found out there's rumor the Persimmon tree is going to be cut down. I calmed them down and promised to look into it. Figure my best bet would be the next Student Council meeting, which is Wednesday.

No, wait, council doesn't meet during exam week... crap. Oh, wait, I can ask Chihiro! THAT TOTALLY WORKS!

* * *

Got back to the dorm and told Mitsuru that I planned on skipping Tartarus for the rest of the week so everyone could study. She approved of the idea, which left me to my own devices, so I opted to finish that Personas playin' Poker sketch before I went to bed.

Surprisingly, just as I went to look for her at lunch the next day, Chihiro showed up and asked me if I wanted to hang out after school. I said hell yeah and we headed to Changall Cafe once school was out. Chihiro was actin' kinda odd, though.

"...Is it me, or is the air conditioning in here too strong?" She commented. "I feel light-headed..." She looked at me. "I haven't been feeling well lately... I couldn't even finish my lunch today."

"That can't be good..."

"I may have caught a cold..." She sighed, then stood up. "I'm sorry, Roy-san, but can we go to a drug store?"

I nodded and stood up, leaving money for our drinks. I didn't mention this, but we find money in Tartarus pretty often and the coin cards in that shuffle thing also nets me cash so basically I'm in no serious need for fundage. It's kinda depressing, but eh.

We went out of the Cafe and headed to the nearby pharmacy.

"I'll go get some medicine." Chihiro gave a quick bow. "I'll be right back."

I nodded and sat on the bench while she ran into the store quickly. A few minutes later, she came back out with a bag and started walking towards me when this weird dude just shows up outta nowhere and gets in her face.

"What's your hurry, girle?" The creep was a bit taller then Chihiro and kinda loomed over here. "Going to your boyfriend's?"

"Wh-What do you want?" She defensively took a step back.

"You just came out of the drug store, right? What'd ya buy! Hm? Hmm?"

"L-leave me alone!" Chihiro's starting to panic. "Go away!" She looked at me pleadingly, fear in her eyes. "Roy-san...!"

Okay, that's it. This dude is harassing my friend. I stood up and walked over to them.

"Excuse me." I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

He turned his head with a glare and his eyes looking down, like he thought I was some local kid. He got a good look at my torso. His eyes widened and he slowly looked up and saw me standing over him, looking about ready to tear one of his arms off.

"Wh-Who are you?" He stammered. "I-I was jus-"

"Leaving."

"Y-Yeah! I hafta get going!" He agreed quickly. Smart man. "My favorite anime is on!"

And he was off like a shot once I let go. I gave Chihiro a concerned look. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah..." She nodded slowly. "I-I thought you were going to hit him, Roy-san... I-I wouldn't want you to fight because of me, but just now you were...um..." She sounds more nervous then usual. "You helped me, Roy-san, and I'm not scared anymore, b-but... why am I still shaking?"

"Hey, just calm down..." I gave her a reassuring grin. "You're fine."

She smiled at me. "Thank you... I'm okay now..." She's still breathing heavy. "Wh-Why all of a sudden... do I feel short of breath...? Roy-san, I..."

**CRASH**

I speculate I know what's wrong with Chihiro...

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

And I'd rather like to avoid that particular scenario, no offence to the girl or anything.

* * *

The rest of my pre-exam week was mostly boring. Well, apart from hanging out at Bookworms or with Maiko every so often. I don't talk about Maiko much because it's really, REALLY depressing. She's got issues at home with her parents, and it kinda eats at me that, technically speaking, I'm getting rewarded with superpowers the more I hang out with her.

Why can't my life be normal?

It's currently the Saturday before Exams, and Chihiro wanted to hang out again so we went to the Sweets shop near that Hagakure ramen place and got some epic snackage. We walked out a little while later and I still had a drink in hand and was contently chuggin' it when Chihiro tugged on my sleeve.

"Umm... Roy-san?"

"Mmhm?" I looked over at her.

"Do you... remember when you saved me from that creep?" I nodded slightly. "From that day on, my health hasn't been that great... the doctor said I'm fine, but... I guess I'll tell you, Roy-san, since you've been so nice to me... B-but don't think I'm weird, okay?"

"Please, Chihiro-san, the only weird person in this conversation is ME." I scoffed before putting my lips around the straw of my drink. Yay Dr. Pepper.

"L-Last night, um... I-I... You see, I had this..." She curled up slightly, looking down, then her head snapped upwards and she looked me dead in the eyes. "I-I-I have dreams about you every single night, Roy-san!"

I almost did a spit take and some of my drink went into my lungs, but I pulled the cup away from my face and started coughing and hacking.

"R-Roy-san?" Chihiro took a step towards me. "Are you okay?"

"You WHAT?" I finally managed to wheeze, looking at her with a raised eyebrow as I straightened myself.

"I... I dream about you every night..." She stated. "This has never happened to me before... I appreciate how nice you've been to me, Roy-san..." She started blushing. "But... one of these days, I... might want to be more than just your friend..."

"I don't." I replied. "I like you as a friend, Chihiro-san."

I looked over at her, and she seemed like she was going to cry.

"Hey, c'mon, don't get upset." I patted her shoulder. "I'm just not looking for that sort of relationship with anyone right now."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

"And for the record..." I continued. "I'm nice to all my friends. It's just how I am."

"R-Really?" Chihiro seemed surprised. I nodded. She smiled, then we had a pleasent chat about stuff on the way back to the dorm.

* * *

I didn't feel like going out on Sunday, so I played more Innocent Sin. I was online before Maya, and I got an IM from her that she'd be there in a sec. Speak of the devil, there she is.

[sry, Tatsu. I was on teh phone w/my mom =/] her character sighed. [whenever we talk, its always the same... ugh, its like all she cares about is marrying me to some dud =/]

I see a chance to brighten her day. [Well hey, why don't we get married?]

[even w/out meeting me irl? =D] Her character started bouncing on the heels of her feet like a little kid, then tackle hugged my character. [take me, Tatsuya! \(^x^)/] Her character backed off. [dun worry... :D i stll have sum spunk left at my age, lol *^_^*]

[Well take it easy on me, for I am young, silly, and American] I used an emote to have my guy rub his neck.

[omg yur frm america?] her avatar did a surprised emote [thats coo] her avatar sighed. [it's sexist to think women can only be happy when they're tied down. -_-# one nite after a lil drinkin', i kinda passed out at the mall on a bench 'n this old dude sez "you think men want drunk sluts like you?"] her avatar stamped her foot. [i told him to stfu, dammit! =( OTL ...sry, kinda got off topic. i guess i'm a little tired =_= but i do feel better now! xD] her character took out an item. [here tatsuya, this is for u]

Her avatar threw the item, a healing potion, into the air and it sprinkled light over my character... who was already at full HP.

[oh... i guess your hp was already full... lmoanade] HA! [i'm trying to say thx for listening to all my bitching ;P]

I guess it's time for a little

**CRASH**

Tag-team racing!

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana.'_

[that lame old guy i mentioned was at Paulowania Mall] Maya told me. [if you see him, don't be nice! =/ u'll know cuz he talks like a woman.] Must keep a straight face... [alrite, i better go practice being a good housewife for tatsuya!]

Her character waved, then she logged off. I do hope she knows I was kidding about marrying her. Otherwise it's gonna be awkward...

* * *

Exams were easy. Even if I didn't get every question correct, I still figure I did good. Chihiro wanted to hang out, and we ended up going to Bookworms. When we got there, Bunkichi pulled me aside to ask if I heard anything about the tree, and I told him I hadn't yet. He seemed to understand, and I got another one of those semi-link feelings, so it'll rank next time I drop by. I went back to Chihiro and she was browsing around again.

"Since our breaks durring the day are so short, I just read, since there's not enough time for us to see each other." she commented. I think she didn't noticed the old guy drag me off. 'All of the books on this shelf are only 100 yen each, so I can afford them with my allowance..."

She scanned the books a bit more, then her gaze locked on a particular spot.

"Hm?" She leaned closer, then seemed surprised. "O-Oh my... this is...!"

"What?" I asked, looking over her shoulder as she grabbed three books off a stack.

"This is a collection of illustrations from the shoujo manga I read!" She announced, a sparkle in her eyes. "It even has short stories inside! I never would have expected this to be here... maybe the shop owner made a mistake?"

I glanced back at Bunkichi, who was talking to Mitsuko about something.

"Knowing Bunkichi-san, that wouldn't surprise me." I chuckled.

"Each volume is 6,000 yen, so that means..."

"18,000 yen total." I finished for her. Chihiro's expression fell.

"Wh-What should I do...?"

"18,000, right?" I asked, pulling out my wallet and counting out money. Chihiro turned to me in surprise.

"R-Roy-san, what are you doing?"

I looked at her with a few yen bills in my hand. "Paying for the books for you."

"N-No no! It's okay!" She shook her head and blushed furiously. "I can save up for them with my allowance!"

I frowned. "If you're worried about me, I DO have a part-time job, so I'll be fine if I pay for those for you..."

Chihiro looked away from me. "It's just... last time you told me..."

"That I'm nice to my friends." I said. "That includes paying for stuff for them." I quickly snatched the books out of her hands and walked over to the counter with them. "Excuse me, Mitsuko-san? I'd like to pay for these..."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

Yay chivalry!

* * *

We walked out of the store a few minutes later, Chihiro hugging the bag with the books in it close to her chest.

"You're welcome." I told her. She simply smiled happily.

"Hey, you're Chihiro Fushimi, the treausurer, right?" The two of us turned and as a pair of Gekkoukan students, a guy and a girl, approached. "I got grilled at the office today because they told me my materials fee hasn't been payed yet!"

Chihiro seemed confused, then her eyes lit up as she figured it out. "Oh, that money... I gave it to the teacher in the office..."

"You were the one who was responsible for that money, right?" asked the other student. "That means you were the last one who saw it..."

"Huh...?" Chihiro shrank slightly. "I just told you..."

"Why are you the Treasurer if you don't know how to handle money properly?" growled the guy. "You should go fess up to the teachers tomorrow and apolog-"

"URUSAI." I barked, grabbing the guy by his shirt. "Get your fucking facts straight before you go around accusing people of ANYTHING. Now get out of my sight."

I let him go and he scurried off with his pal. I turned back to Chihiro.

"Sorry about that." I rubbed my neck. "Stuff like that really bothers me."

"I-It's okay, Roy-san..." She replied, looking down. "B-But I'm positive I gave the money to the teacher!"

"Hey, don't worry." Chihiro looked at me. "We can talk to Mitsuru-senpai about it at the next meeting."

"Y-Yeah!" She smiled.

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana.'_

Holy shit, two ranks in ten minutes? I'm better at this then I thought...

* * *

Then Sunday happened. Chatted with Maya all day and she was talking about how this teacher she works with, Mr. E, was pissing her off. I managed to get her to chill a bit and she admitted she felt better venting around me. And hey, the link strengthened, so it was all good.

Anywho, that night Akihiko hit me up for a Tartarus run and I went along with it seeing as Exams are over. And apparently he let me stay in charge because he just wants to punch the hell out of everything, so it's all good. So the two of us, plus Yukari and Junpei, went up and to the barrier into the next Tartarus block, Arqa.

It's very... purple.

First thing we found were Hulk Hogan shadows. Seriously. Then Akihiko 'n me wrecked their shit with Zio spammage and it was great. Honestly, I was a little sad they didn't talk like Hulk Hogan as well, because that would've been freakin' HILARIOUS.

"WHAT YA GONNA DO WHEN THE HULKSTER UNLEASHES THESE TWENTY-FOUR INCH PYTHONS ON YOU, BROTHER?"

"Junpei, that was the best impression of Hulk Hogan I've ever heard ever." I told him. Best part? He said all that in Japanese. "Do it again."

* * *

Author Notes- Well thar ya go. I appologize if it seems like I'm rushing through some of these events, but really, the game's story doesn't get good until the Fuuka arc as far as I'm concerned. Expect more, and longer, chapters to follow. Also, if you noticed in the last chapter, Roy will go into Gratuitous Japanese when sufficiently angry about something.

Also, spooky semi-forshadowing with Roy's crazy claws durring the Priestess battle! I'll touch on that again within the next few chapters. And I had to make a refrence to the Hulk Hogan shadows in Lusnati Style, they were one of my favorite things about it. Plus, ya know, Roy would actually know who Hulk Hogan is. As for the bit with Junpei... Rule of Funny. Because I can and it's hilarious. At least to me. And yes, the Reaper will show up soon.

I have a cunning plan for him. Mwehehehehehe...


	8. Meet the Reaper

Bumped into Yukari at the school gates the next morning.

"Mornin'." She greeted. "You're punctual as always, Roy-kun."

"Eh." I grunted.

"Junpei looks like the world is about to end." Why are you always so mean to him? Seriously. I swear, one of these day's I'm going to HELP him get some payback. "Well, exam scores will be posted today, so... he said he's gonna beg for a higher score... like that's gonna work."

"Eh."

"Oh, by the way..." Hrm? "You remember how Akihiko-senpai was talking about that girl named Fuuka?"

"Uh, was that on the last day of exams?" I asked. I went back to my room and just chilled out playin' games on my PSP that night and didn't come out till I took a shower the next morning.

"Oh, right, you weren't there." Yeah, it was the last day of exams. "She's got the potential, but I hear she's kinda weak. It could just be a rumor, but I wonder what she's really like." Yukari shrugged. "Either way, having another Persona-user can't be a bad thing!"

"I suppose..."

* * *

The rest of Monday was kinda dull until results were posted. I had to double take when I saw them.

I got the top score with a ninety-four percent average. What is this I don't even.

"Whoa, Roy-kun's smart!"

"Isn't he that transfer student?"

"That's amazing!"

This school is full of lunatics. Why can't my life be normal.

* * *

Stopped by Student Council and, to my surprise, Hidetoshi was talking to a teacher. The hell?

"Alright, Hidetoshi, I'm counting on you. For both our sakes." Hide nodded as the teacher left the room.

"Hey, what'd he mean by 'for both our sakes?' What's he talking about?" Thank you random student council dude who's name I've never bothered to learn because I already have a Magician Social Link.

"He just wants to create a better school environment, so he offered to help us." Replied Hidetoshi. Wait, why isn't Mitsuru here? "Just like how the President asked Roy-kun to join."

"What? You can't do something like that without the President's permission!"

"Okay, whoa..." I put a hand up. "What the bacon is going on?"

"S-Someone found a cigarette butt in the boys' bathroom." Hi Chihiro. "Th-That teacher wants us to look for the one who did it."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Well, someone broke the rules, and we should find out who. It's our responsibility, right?"

"Okay, yeah, I can't fault your logic behind that, what with you running the Disciplinary Committee..." I admitted, crossing my arms. He DOES have a point.

"So is he gonna spy on us in the boys' bathroom, now?" griped the other guy. "Man, he treats everyone like a suspect!"

"Don't exaggerate... I'm a member of the Disciplinary Committee, not the police," Hidetoshi stated with a cold stare. "Look, you have two choices. Either help out and prove you're trustworthy, or refuse and raise suspicion."

"Three choices, actually." I cut in. "Third option is you prove you're innocent and stay the hell out of the way."

Hidetoshi looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I raised my own eyebrow at him. "I'm serious. Besides, here's a hypothetical situation to consider; What if the guilty party is one of those 'helpful' people? Kinda hard to catch the guy if he's leading you around in circles."

Hide nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. I'll have to be careful..."

"No, WE'LL have to be careful." Smirk. "I'll help ya out, Hidetoshi-san."

"Thanks, Roy-kun." He smirked back. "I'm counting on you."

**CRASH**

Right on cue.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana.'_

"I'll let you know when I need your help." Hidetoshi nodded at me before leaving the council room.

"You're gonna help that friggin' teacher's pet?" the dude with the issues glared at me. "What's your deal?"

"Simple." I held up a finger. "I'll keep tabs on him so you guys have less to worry about."

Sadly, due to lack of Mitsuru, Chihiro's problem would have to wait. I told her I'd try talking to Mitsuru back at the dorm, which I did and I got told that she wouldn't be able to do anything about it till Friday or Saturday, so i just went to bed.

* * *

Junpei was bitching and moaning about his bad grades the next morning on the way to school. His mood dropped further when I told him how well I did. I don't get why he's bummed, he was in the mid to high range of scores in class.

"Well, I won't let it get to me." He's happy all of a sudden. "We might be getting another girl on our team anyways!"

"I heard about that from Yukari." I replied. "But it'd be nice to have another face in the dorm. No offence or anything, but it's kinda weird only havin' five people there."

"Yeah, I hear ya, Roy."

* * *

Opted for some Tennis after school and did some practicing with Rio and Kaz. Because basicly all but five members of the girls team quit, those five being Rio, Hamuko, and three girls who were absent from practice last time either because they were sick(Shouko) or helping each other with homework(the other two, Mizuki and Ayame), the Coach decided to just combine the teams durring practice.

Me, Rio, Kaz, and Hamuko went over to what was formerly the girls court with a few of the other guys and Shouko and started doing some practice Doubles matches. Yuko was there as well and watched as Hamuko and I teamed up against Rio and Kaz. The match got pretty heated, and I was amazed we were actually winning, but after I served at the start of the last set, Kaz fell to the ground, grunting in pain and grasping his knee.

"Kaz!" One of the other guys, Sasuke if I remember correctly, rushed over to Kaz along with Yuko and Rio. I darted around the net as well to see what was up.

* * *

We got Kaz to the nurse' office, and Me, Yuko and Sasuke(I should mention he hates it when you make refrence to the relevant anime and manga series about a certain orange-clad ninja) were standing in the room looking at him as he sat on a bench.

"Asthma, huh...?" Since when did asthma involve your knee? Oh right, IT DOESN'T. "C'mon, man, we're counting on you for the big meet next year, so don't push yourself so hard." Sasuke sighed, then walked out.

"Roy-kun, can you take him home?" Yuko looked at me, and I nodded. She sighed in relief, then left as well.

"Kaz." I looked down at him.

"Wh-what?" He looks like a kid who's just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I'm fine, Roy. My asthma's just act-"

"Don't bullshit me, man." I snapped. "Asthma does not effect the knee."

"Argh... I can't do it! I can't lie to you, man!" Smart move. "Roy, I... My knee hasn't felt right since that day you first came to practice... even if I put medicine on it or massage it, the pain won't go away." Shit... "Of course it'll heal, but I can't afford to stop training, so I'll work through the pain!"

"Are you crazy?" I snapped, giving him a look that said the same thing. "You're going to cripple yourself!"

"There's a national competition next year, man! There's gonna be participants from all over Japan! The regional meet pales in comparison. I HAVE to win that meet! I can't af-"

"YES YOU CAN." I bellowed, jabbing my finger into his chest. "If you don't, you're going to end up in a wheelchair and you'll NEVER get to compete."

Kaz looked away from me for a moment, then back at me with a pleading look in his eyes. "Roy, please man, don't tell anyone about this... Yuko and Rio-chan will never let me hear the end of it..."

I glared at him, then sighed. "Alright, fine." I stood up and started away from him. "But I swear, if you don't take it easy, not only will I tell them, I'll HELP them chew your ass out. Got it?"

"Gotcha." He smiled. "Thanks, Roy."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana._'

Again, time and place, this is neither, spooky voices.

* * *

I left Kaz after he insisted he'd be fine and opted to go to the mall. I stayed there for a while, hangin' out at the cafe for a bit before starting back towards the dorm when I spotted this dude in a business suit standing off by himself. Devil Arcana. Wait, I think I've seen that guy before... Eh, oh well. I casually walked in his direction, fully planning on leaving through the door we was near.

"My, you're handsome."

Oh god he's talking to me. May as well stop and listen so he doesn't stalk me or something.

"Tell me young man, how would you like to have your dreams come true? I have a golden opportunity for you."

I know a scam when I hear one, but I feel like messing with him. "I'm listening."

He grinned. "I'm only telling this to you, so don't tell anyone this, okay? I can make you rich. Guaranteed."

"Normally I'd be skeptical..."-And I actually am because this dude is totally bullshitting me-"But you've peaked my interest. Go on."

"All you need to do is twenty thousand yen, and your investment will multiply by ten- no, a hundred fold!"

Twenty thousand yen is like what, two hundred bucks American? Shit, I can find that much lying around Tartarus, easy. "Really?"

"Of course! And the best part is that you don't have to do a thing!" His grin widened. "You'll become fabulously wealthy while you sleep!"

Seriously, where the fuck have I seen this asshole before? Oh, wait, this must be the jerkass Maya mentioned the other day...

"Just give me the twenty thousand yen and I'll take care of the rest." He tilted his head back slightly. "Well, what do you say?"

I shrugged, then pulled out my wallet and held out the money he asked for. "I'm in."

"Thank you, sir." He took the cash and pocketed it quickly, then bowed. "I'll be in contact once your fortune has been made." And off he goes.

Yeah, prick didn't even ask for my name. And Maya's right, he DOES talk like a girl. Note to self; get a tape recorder and blackmail his ass for shits and giggles.

* * *

The next day was completely dull, but I did play around at the park with Maiko. No link boosting, but still nice to cheer the kid up, what with her family issues.

Day after that Junpei caught me at the school gate.

"S'up dude!" He greeted. "So, whaddya think...?"

"About what?"

"About Fuuka Yamagishi, of course." Oh, the girl Yukari mentioned. "I haven't given up hope that she'll join our team. Dude, her face looks so familiar...she does look kinda weak, but it only makes me wanna protect her, ya know?"

"Sort of like a Big Brother Instinct?"

Junpei nodded at that and then we started chatting about random stuff on the way to class.

* * *

The school nurse is teaching my class today. And he's talking about Magic.

You can bet your ass I stayed up and paid attention.

This school is now officially awesome, if only because of Mr. Edogawa.

* * *

Hung with Junpei after school, but no linkage came out of it. We talked some more about Fuuka, then headed back to the dorm and geared up for a Tartarus run.

Everything seemed normal till we found this floor with no shadows on it that was full of briefcases loaded with loot a few floors short of the next Tartarus Guardian. We grabbed the last of the loot, then started looking for a staircase when Mitsuru started panicing.

_"This power..."_ She said, her voice trembling. _"It must be Death..."_

Then I heard the faint rattling of chains as Me, Junpei, Yukari, and Akihiko walked down the halls.

**_"GET OUT OF THERE! IT'S MOVING TOWARDS YOU!"_**

I'd never heard Mitsuru sound that freaked out about anything, so the four of us bolted through Tartarus.

The chain rattling kept getting louder till we rounded a corner, then I looked back and saw it as the others charged past me.

It was a large, bloodied thing that wouldn't have been out of place in a horror movie. It had a tattered black jacket with a pair of chains circling the torso. On its head was a tattered bag with a single hole in it that a lone yellow eye gazed out of. In its hands were revolvers with barrels easily at least three feet long. Normally I can't sense Shadows or anything, but just by looking at it I knew; It could obliterate me.

Not kill, not destroy, but **OBLITERATE**.

It raised one of its guns towards me and I turned and ran before it opened fire. A blast of white-purple energy blew a hole in the wall next to me, and I ran faster.

"ROY! C'MON!" Junpei shouted from somewhere ahead of me. "RUN FOR IT!"

"WHAT'S IT FUCKING LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?" I roared back, glancing over my shoulder to see the thing still after me. And getting closer. I switched to Archangel and Evoker'd him out of my head for a Sukukaja, which thankfully allowed me to out-pace the death monster thing and make it into the stair room where everyone else was waiting for me.

We sat on the stairs and caught our breath, and looked back to see the monster standing at entrance to the room, simply watching us. We're completely helpless right now and it's watching us.

"Why isn't it attacking?" Junpei asked quietly.

"No clue, but let's get to the next floor before it decides to use its brain." I whispered back.

The four of us stood and started up the stairs. I was the last one to head up, and I took one last look back at the thing. It looked right back at me, then pointed its pistol at me and tilted its head, as if curious. I raised an eyebrow, then quickly followed after the others. We left Tartarus once we reached the Guardian's floor.

* * *

Went to Tennis the next day, still a bit shaken after the near-litteral brush with death last night. Kaz was a no-show, and to my surprise Kenji showed up.

"Kenji... what do you want?" Rio looked at him suspiciously.

"I've got some homework that I just don't understand at all..." he griped, rubbing his neck. "Could you do it for me instead? Or tell me how to do it?"

"Homework...?" She sound skeptical. "I bed you slept through class again."

"He did, actually." Chimed in me and Hamuko. Kenji gave a nervous chuckle while Rio just sighed.

"What do I get in return?" She asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ooh, so you're up for it? Lucky me!" He seems happy. "I'll give you my love in return. Love, baby!"

Wait what

"Nobody needs that!" Rio snapped quickly. "How about you buy me a special at Hagakure?"

"Yikes, that's steep..." _**OWNED.**_ "Okay! I'll be waitin' around until you're done."

"Yeah, yeah..." Rio huffed as Kenji left, then she remembered me and Hamuko exist. "Oh, sorry... I ended up loafing around..."

"You two seem to get along well." I noted. "You been friends a while?"

"Yeah, I've known him since preschool." Rio smiled. "He's like a younger brother to me. That's all." She laughed slightly, then sighed. "He's been coming here a lot lately, and he's starting to be a pest..."

She's not saying something, I'll wager. And he hasn't been showing up at all before... Oh wait, I've missed a bunch of days due to other Social Links eating up my time.

"What's the matter?" asked Hamuko, giving Rio a concerned look.

"Sorry, it's nothing..." Rio sighed again.

"It's about the girls I yelled at, huh?" I cringed. "Well, either they'll come around or they won't. It's up to them."

"Yeah..." Rio looked down and sighed. "It's like... I don't want to pretend nothing happened, and I'm not going to say this is my fault."

"Well, it's NOT your fault." I affirmed. "They shouldn't have been shooting off their mouths anyways."

"All that stuff about having never been in a relationship and stuff... That's none of their business."

"Damn right it's not." I smirked.

"Don't let it get to you, Rio-chan." chirped Hamuko.

"Yeah..." She still seems hung up on something, though. "Roy-san...?"

"Yesh?"

"Do you have... someone you like?"

That came out of freaking nowhere. And I can't figure why she's asking me.

"No..." I admitted. The hell am I supposed to say to her?

"What about you, Hamuko-san?"

She shook her head.

"Is that so..." Rio smiled slightly. "I don't get romance. It seems like so much trouble, and there's no big reward for doing it."

I'm surprised she opened up.

**CRASH**

Oh yeah. Forgot about that.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana.'_

"We should get back to practice." She looked around and frowned. "I wonder where Kaz is, though..."

* * *

I got the answer to that question back in the locker room. Kaz was trying to sneak in, limping noticeably. I grilled him a little and he admitted his mom had him go get an X-Ray for his leg. He seemed annoyed they didn't tell him right away, but the doctors still have to look at the X-Rays to figure out what the problem is.

And hey, me keepin' my mouth shut ended up ranking the link even further. Yay for two people in the same link.

* * *

"Did you hear?" I looked over at a girl talking to her friend shortly before class the next day. "About that girl in 2-E...?"

"Yeah, they haven't got a clue..."

"Isn't that bizarre?"

Junpei sighed heavily as the two girls walked off. "Man, can you believe these people...? So, did you hear the details?"

"This is the first I've heard of it." I told him. I usually walk to school with my headphones on, so I haven't heard anything the two gossipers I passed durring the week after I got out of the hospital may have said.

"Well, a girl from 2-E went missing last night. This morning, they found her lying on the ground in front of the school gate!" He told me. "Nobody knows what happened, and supposedly, she's still unconcious."

He turned his head as Yukari walked towards us.

"Yo, Yuka-tan. This is a tough case, even for Junpei Iori, Ace Detective."

"Ace Detective? ...Are you stupid or something?" Yukari raised an eyebrow at him. Then she smirked. "More like Stupei, Ace Defective."

Wow, Yukari. Just... WOW. It is now my life's work to make Junpei's vengence all the more painful for you.

"Hey! I resent that!" Junpei snapped. "Anyway, where've you been?"

"I was talking to the teacher." Yukari replied with a shrug. "That girl they found... I saw her yesturday on my way back from practice. She seemed okay then..."

"Whoa..." Junpei commented. I simply raised an eyebrow. "Now that's really strange..."

Indeed it is, Junpei.

* * *

Went to Student Council wtih Chihrio after class. We worked on other school stuff first, then Mitsuru looked around the room with a small frown.

"Is Odagiri absent today?"

"Um... no..." Chihiro lightly shook her head. "I think he's busy..."

"Busy doing what?" Mitsuru asked, presumably with a raised eyebrow.

"Busy playing Private DICK." growled that Magician guy who's a total prick.

"Oh hell..." I muttered in English, then stood up. "Excuse me for a moment, Senpai, I need to go find Hidetoshi."

"Very well, Fortune." She replied. "Please return quickly."

"Gotcha."

* * *

I found Hidetoshi in the first floor hallway talking to another student. I got closer to hear what they were talking about.

"So where's your EVIDENCE, smart guy?"

"There's no need for evidence." Oh god damn it Hide... "I know all about you. You were arrested for beating up a guy in the park who snitched on you, right?"

"Whoa! He's at it AGAIN!" commented a different student who was also watching. "That's the third person today he's accused..."

'Oh for the love of bacon...' Hey Spooky Voice from the battle on the train.

'Sup.' Not a lot. Talk later, okay? 'kay.'

I started towards Hidetoshi, and I noticed the other guy looked about ready to slug him. The guy spotted me walking up, which caused Hide to turn around.

"Oh, Roy-kun, ju-"

I cut off Hidetoshi's words with a backhanded fist to his face, causing him to stagger towards the wall. I looked over at the guy he was talking to.

"I'll deal with him, just move along."

The guy blinked, then nodded and walked off. Hide looked at me with a bewildered expression, his hand on his cheek.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. Sounds pissed.

"Beating sense into you." I retorted, glaring back at him. "You tell me you hate people with no common sense, and what do you go around doing? Accusing any and all male students! Where's the sense in that, Hidetoshi?"

His eyes widened slightly, as if it was a startling realization for him, but he shook his head and looked away from me. "It's my job to find this person, no matter what. I'll do it by myself if I have to."

"You know what, listen and listen good, Hidetoshi Odagiri, because I'm only going to tell you this ONCE." I growled. "You need to lighten the fuck up before you turn into someone worse then the guy you're after."

He sighed. "I know what people think of me. But, if you try to justify your actions, people will hate you even more. History has proven that."

"Very, very true." I told him, nodding in agreement. I'm still a bit angry, but it's lessened now.

"You understand." Hidetoshi smirked, dispite his slightly swollen lip. "You're a sensible person, Roy-kun."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana.'_

"Just take it easy, okay?" I started backing away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the Student Council room..."

* * *

I got back to the Student Council Room and Chihiro and Mitsuru where already talking. Mitsuru looked over at me as I walked in.

"Ah, Fortune. Would you assist me?"

I blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"With the situation involving Chihiro." Oh yeah that. "I'd like to know more about her, and seeing as you two have spent time together after school, I felt I should ask you."

"Makes sense." I agreed.

"I want to prove to those who suspect her that even outside of school she behaves respectably." Mitsuru continued. "Fortune, I'll leave tonight open. Come by my room when you're free. Try not to be seen by anyone."

_'Giggidy Giggidy.'_

Shut up.

'Oh come on man, she's HOT.'

Not arguing that. Now shut it. We'll talk at the dorm.

"P-Please... wait! Th-That means..." Chihiro stammered. "Y-You two will be meeting alone...?"

Mitsuru nodded. "I don't want to make things worse. Even in the dorm, there are students who spread rumors..."

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Chihiro shouted. "There's no way I'll agree to that! If I can clear my name, it won't be necessary, right? I'm going to talk to the teacher!"

She darted past me and out of the room. I stood with Mitsuru in stunned silence, then the two of us followed after her. Eventually we heard Chihiro's yelling coming from the Faculty Office, so we ran inside and found her chewing out a teacher.

"I remember what happened that day! You had a bandage on your chin because you cut yourself while shaving!" She's on an adrenaline-fuled tangent. "I handed the fee money to you directly! Do you expect me to just pretend that never happened?"

"Calm down, Fushimi!" I don't think that's gonna work, Mitsuru...

"Please explain!" Chihiro pleaded, looking down at her feet. "Or else..."

"S-Sorry! It's all my fault..."

"Or else someone important to me will-" She noticed the teacher had spoken. "Huh? Um...?"

"That day, I had to stay late, and I missed my train..." The teacher began, rubbing his neck. "I didn't have any money on me, so... I used what you had collected to pay for a taxi."

"WHAT." yelled both Chihiro and me at the same time. Though I was a bit louder.

"I fully intended to return the money, but then I forgot..." He chuckled nervously. "I must be getting old, huh?"

"It-It's not funny!" she snapped.

"Don't worry. I'll explain to the class what happened and return the money." The teacher bowed. "Please forgive me, Chihiro!"

"I assumet it was just a misunderstand, but..." I don't like that tone... "this is INEXCUSEABLE! You call yourself a teacher?"

DAMN, I can basicly FEEL the murder dripping from her voice.

"Misappropriation of public funds is a serious crime." Mitsuru continued. "I will report this immediately!"

'RUN! IT'S MITSURU-ZIRRA!'

Must keep straight face... MUST KEEP STRAIGHT FACE...

"It's okay, Mitsuru-san..." Chihiro said after the teacher started panicking at Mitsuru's words. "If that's the case, then I'll..." She looked at me. "Let's go, Roy-san."

And then she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me up to the school roof. She finally let go of me when we were near the edge fencing, looking out at the city.

"Can you believe I went to the Faculty Office and said all that?" She asked, smiling. "I even surprised myself!" She giggled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"No..." Chihiro shook her head. "Remember what I said to Mitsuru-san? 'Get away from him!'" She giggled again. "I-I was worried what might happen if you and Mitsuru-san were alone together... I was so flustered I almost passed out... I'm pretty weird, huh?"

"At this point, yeah, I'd say you are." I smirked slightly. "I mean, I made SURE to say..."

"I-I know, Roy-san..." Her smile faded slightly. "It's just that... dispite how I'm usually quiet and timid, when comes to something I care about, I become agressive. I've been like that ever since I was a kid, or so my mother says."

"An admirable trait." I said. "Just, try to reign it in a bit, okay? You kinda freaked me out a little."

"Sorry..." She apologized with a slight giggle. "Oh, um, Roy-san?"

"Yeah?"

"I... I wanted to give you something..."

I turned my head to look at her and she was holding a strap for a cellphone or something out to me. I took it in my right hand and looked at it.

"I... made it myself..." She blushed. "As a thank you gift... For all the time you've spent helping me..."

I smiled. "No problem."

**CRASH**

Something feels different...

_'Thou art I... And I am thou...'_

What in the hell?

_'The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Justice Arcana hath been set free...'_

_'We bestow upon thee the ability to create Melchizedek, the ultimate form of the Justice Arcana... This bond you have forged cannot be broken...'_

Whoa...

"Oh!" Chihiro's voice snapped me out of my trance. "I still have to apologize to Mitsuru-san..." She blushed in embarrassment. "...and, um, I think I owe her an explanation... Excuse me!"

And off she goes. Whelp, back to the dorm I go! I have a spooky voice in my head to interrogate.

...

Wait, now he's quiet? Oh, son of a bitch...

* * *

Tartarus was interesting tonight because we hit the next barrier and I snagged the old document there and I'm currently taking it back down to Elizabeth.

"Hey, Elizabeth!" I walked in with the briefcase containing the document. "Got the Old Document from the current barrier."

She smiled at me and took it, along with other things I collected for her. Considering I just finished three of her requests at once, she apparently decided to give me something really good. She ducked through another door in the back of the Velvet Room, then returned a few minutes later with a belt with four little boxes on it that looked like a deck holders for YuGiOh or something. I raised an eyebrow at this.

"I see you're curious." She smiled. "Within each of these boxes is a special set of cards capable of storing items within themselves."

"Really?"

She nodded and pulled a card from one of the boxes, then crushed it in her hand only for the card to become a dagger. I whistled. Damn that's handy.

"And you're just giving me this?"

"That is correct." She replied, the dagger morphing back into a card in her open hand. "I felt it would be more useful to then for myself. Would you like me to instruct you in their use?"

"Hell yeah!"

* * *

Long Story short, the Cards basically worked like the Shuffle Time cards. Elizabeth didn't have an official name for them so I call them the Inventory Cards, and each card can hold exactly one kind of item, unless it's a certain KIND of item, like Medicines or those magical exploding gems or the Tartarus Jewels we'll find lying around, in which case they can hold up to ninety nine of the damn things. Another exception is pairs of weapons, like gauntlets.

The cards were actually divided into suits based on which box they were in and what the cards could hold: Swords for weapons, Shields for Armor and Accessories, Staves for useable items like Medical stuff or magic gems, and Coins for extra stuff like Tartarus Jewels or bits of shadows. They react to people with Personas by switching between the item in question and a compressed card state via slight pulses from the psyche or something like that(totally don't care how it works as long as it does), and it IS possible to eject items from cards so they can even be re-used.

The boxes on the belt were just for storage while Elizabeth had them and/or for everyone else to use. The fact I could now hide more weapons then the US Military on my person in card form because of my mad slight of hand/card-hiding skills was not lost on either of us. I showed the cards to everyone else and told them how to use them, which certainly makes our lives easier. When asked how I got them, I said they came the same way I got weapons and personae, complete with instruction manual. I'm technically not lying about that.

Also, turns out that we can basically mentally flip through the cards to the one we want/need, so we don't even have to dig through the card boxes for our weapons or items and stuff, we just have to know it's there. Junpei pointed out that we now basically had Batman's Utility belt on the way back to the dorm, and I gave him a high five for making the connection.

I no longer care that my life is not normal. **This is awesome.**

* * *

Whelp, it's the first of June and now we're in Summer Uniforms. Or at least we're supposed to be. In my case, I just swapped out the jacket for the dress shirt and kept the maroon shirt on under it. Junpei did somethin' similar, 'cept with a blue shirt. Surprisingly, I bumped into Mitsuru at the gate. Interesting shirt she went with.

"Good morning." Her small smile faded into an uneasy expression. "There seems to be a sense of restlessness in the air."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "I haven't been paying much attention..."

"You don't feel it...?" Mitsuru seemed surprised. "Well, I just hope it doesn't have anything to do with Shadows." We resumed walking towards the entrace. "Akihiko said we may be receiving a new member, but we don't know when we'll be attacked... So remain alert at all times."

"Sure thing."

* * *

School was boring today and I didn't feel like hanging out with anyone not in SEES, so I just went back to the dorm with Junpei.

He asked me about some ghost story goin' around the school on the way, and my first instinct was to ask if he'd talked to Yukari about it.

"Nah, not yet. I was gonna ask her later tonight."

I gave him an evil grin. "I do believe this calls for an evil plan, my friend."

He grinned back. Cue High five.

**CRASH**

And a Social Link, too.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana.'_

* * *

Author Note- Now we have the bullshit for how Roy can carry metric craptons of items in a style similar to the games. And if you hadn't already noticed, he has a LOT of card-related things going for him. You'll find out what the deal with that is soon enough.

Also, first encounter with the Reaper! We'll get more time with him soon. Plus Roy's maxxed his first Social Link! Betcha didn't see THAT coming. And yes, I'll actually add a scene from Maiko's Social Link other then the max event at some point. As for the Spooky Voice who decided to troll Roy for a little bit, well, you'll be seeing more of it. A lot more.

Mwehehehehe...


	9. Stuff happens

One evil plotting session later, me and Junpei wandered downstairs to find everybody sitting at the table in the semi-kitchen area. Yukari was sitting next to Akihiko. Across from them was Mitsuru. Wonder what they were all talking about.

"Hey, Yuka-tan, have you seen the posts on the student message boards?" Junpei asked as the two of us walked over.

"What posts?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're going to have to be specific."

"The ones about that girl who was found by the front gate." I told her. "Me 'n Junpei were talkin' about it and apparently there's a rumor goin' around that an angry ghost is the cause."

"H-Hey, come on!" Yukari fidgeted slightly. "No one believes that stuff..." She looked at the other members of SEES nervously. "Right?"

"So, what is this ghost story about?" Mitsuru has a sly smirk on her face.

"Wha?" I do believe Yukari is afraid of ghosts. "It's probably made up... so why bother?"

Do I need to remind her what we do on a regular basis? What with the fighting eldritch monsters in a space-time distortion that turns our school into a tower of doom by shooting ourselves in the head with magic guns? And she's AFRAID OF GHOSTS?

"I'm interested." Akihiko added. "Go ahead and tell us."

Junpei looked at me and I nodded. I walked over and turned off the lights and he pulled a flashlight out from where he had it tucked into his belt, turning it on and holding it under his chin.

"Good evening." Junpei grinned as he spoke in a very Igor-like way. "Welcome, to 'Junpei's Believe it, or Don't.'..."

I saw Yukari squirm in her seat faintly.

"There are many strange things in this world..." he began. "Those that have seen them tell the story to those they know... and one such story has recently begun spreading around our very own Gekkoukan High..." Oh, he's good. "..The story goes that if you get caught at school late at night, you'll be devoured by a maniacal ghost that roams the halls!"

Junpei is good.

"I first heard the tale the other day from a friend of mine- let's call him Shu..." It's Kenji. "He said to me 'Junpei, I saw something strange.' He sounded serious, so I asked him what he'd seen." Junpei's expression darkened. "He said it was about the girl in 2-E... said he saw her go into the school on the night of the incident." He leaned back slightly, as if shocked. "I couldn't believe it. She's not the kind of girl to be out at night... but Shu was white as a sheet. He insisted it was true... then it hit me..."

I love how Yukari's silently freaking the fuck out in her seat right now.

"That ghost... it had to have tried to make her its dinner!" He leaned forward, looking around at everyone at the table. "And that's why they found her lying on the ground by the gate!" He stood back up and took a few steps back. Time for me to get ready. "I felt a chill run down my spine, and I broke into a cold sweat..." Junpei grinned again. "Yes, there are strange things in this world... Believe it..." he turned off the flashlight. "Or Don't..."

A deep, rumbling evil chuckle echoed through the room.

Yukari screamed loudly, but stopped when the evil cackle faded into me and Junpei laughing our asses off. I turned the lights back on and looked at her.

"My my, Yukari-san..." I said in an evil voice, grinning. "I do hope I didn't frighten you..." I gave a quieter version of the evil chuckle.

Yukari was blushing and glaring at me, while Mitsuru and Akihiko where trying their damnedest to not burst out laughing.

"What do you think, Akihiko?" asked Mitsuru.

He grinned. "I think it's worth investigating."

"Wow Yuka-tan, never thought you'd be afraid of ghosts." Junpei commented as I walked back to the table. "Kinda funny."

"Hey, watch it!" She snapped, still blushing. "F-Fine, then let's investigate. We'll each ask around school for the rest of the week. I'll prove to you that this is ghost story is just an urban legend!"

Good for you, but it's pointless. I'll just let you go and be stupid like you always are.

"I appreciate that." Mitsuru commented with a smirk. "The story is a bit unnerving."

"Then I'll let you guys handle it." Thanks Akihiko. "Just make sure you sleep with one eye open..."

"If you can sleep at all..." I added in my evil voice with a sinister grin. Because I can.

Vengence is sweet.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana._

You're welcome, Junpei.

* * *

"Good evening." I sat up in bed to see Jailhouse kid sitting at the other end durring the Dark Hour. "I told you I'd come again. How are you?"

"Pretty good, kid."

"I'm glad you remembered me." He grinned. "Now... In another week, the moon will be full again."

"I'm guessing that means we got another Ordeal?"

He nodded. "That's correct, so you should be careful."

"Duely noted. Thanks." I yawned. "I have a few questions, but I can wait till the next time you show up. You'll be back once the Ordeal is over and I'm not dead, right?"

He nodded again. "That's correct." He stood up. "Farewell." And he vanished again.

I still want to know how he does that.

* * *

I ended up bumping into Yukari on the way to school.

"Mornin'." She greeted. Guess she stopped caring about me and Junpei trying to scare the hell out of her last night(and succeeding). "Ya know what...? From this day forward, I'm gonna do my best!"

"At what?" Yay feined ignorance.

"Duh! The ghost story! Did you already forget what we talked about last night?" She growled, then sighed. "You're hopeless. You better find out as much as you can, too! Remember, you only have until Friday! I'm counting on you, Roy-kun!"

'Fifty bucks says she's the only one who gives much of a damn.'

I'd take that bet, but I know you're right. And where'd you go last time, anyways?

'I fade in and out. Kinda sucks. I ain't got the hang of this yet.'

That mean your commentary is going to come and go at random?

'Pretty much.'

Great...

'Hey, I'll let you know when I figured out how this whole deal works. Or who knows, maybe Igor can help.'

This is true. I'll have to stop by the mall later.

* * *

My Velvet Room shenanigans where put on hold when Junpei wanted to hang out, so I went along with it. I mean hey, it'll still be there later. We didn't really pick a destination, so we ended up wandering our way over to the Iwatodai Strip Mall at random.

"Hey, let's get something to eat." He said suddenly as we crossed the street, then started rubbing his chin. "Ramen or a meal... Maybe a beef bowl... Oh wait, what about takoyaki...?"

"Ramen sounds good." I replied.

"Alright, man!" High five. "Okay, let's go!" He started towards the stairs to the level Hagakure's on when something caught his attention. "...Whoa, what the hell?"

I followed his gaze over to a middle aged dude who was staggering around. You have got to be kidding me.

"That dude's completely wasted." Junpei growled. "It's broad daylight, dammit..."

"Let's avoid the moron." I said.

"Yeah." he nodded. "I don't wanna deal with somebody like that either. I mean, if he gets hit by a car or something, it's his own damn fault."

We started moving again when the drunk guy got in our way. Guess he noticed us looking at him.

"Haaaah...?" Good god, did this guy fall into a vat of booze or something? "Wha' chu lookin' at..."

"Waddaya want...?" Junpei snarled. Disgust was written on his face plain as day. "Get out of here..."

"Whaz yer big hurreh, kid?" slurred the dude, staggering to a more upright position. "You gots a problem wif me?"

"Dude, let's just go..." I nudged Junpei.

"Yeah, you're right." He nodded and the two of us just brushed past the drunk and went up to Hagakure. I could tell Junpei was in a bad mood as we waited for our order.

"Hey, uh, sorry about that, man..." I looked over at Junpei. "I... don't like seeing drunks like that." He laughed slightly. "Well, I doubt that anyone actually likes seeing people like that..."

"I don't blame you." I replied.

There was a long pause before Junpei spoke again.

"You..." He winced. "You don't have any parents, right?" I sighed and nodded grimly. He winced again. "I know this'll make me sound like an ass... But I kinda envy you... There have to be some parents their kids would be better off without..."

"Probably." I said. "Wasn't the case with mine. Good people."

"Yeah?" Junpei raised an eyebrow. "That's good."

Our ramen showed up and we started eating. The heavy silence kinda ruined it a little.

"My... dad was always drinking." Junpei said suddenly. I looked at him while slurping up some noodles. "He'd just sit there and drink, all by himself..." He winced. "And every time he did, he'd get angry over the stupidest stuff..."

"What about your mom?" I'm honestly curious.

"She... died..." He said quietly. "Not too long after I turned seven..."

I winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Junpei smirked sadly. "But, thanks man. Feels good havin' someone to talk to about this."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana._

I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Anytime, Junpei."

* * *

On our way out of the Ramen shop, to my surprise I spotted little Maiko sitting over near the Takoyaki stand with this sorta thin dude wearing a striped shirt. Without thinking, I headed towards them with Junpei tagging along behind me, slightly confused.

"Hey, Maiko-chan!" I called out as I approached. She turned and her expression brightened.

"Hi Hat-kun!" She calls me that because, apparently, she thinks my hat is really neat. "Who's your friend?"

"Hm?" I looked back at Junpei. "Oh, this is Junpei."

"Heya." He smiled and waved at the little girl.

"Is he the one that mean girl in pink is always yelling at?"

"Yeah, that's him." Junpei started cracking up.

"I see..." I looked over at the thin guy. Sun Arcana. He looks kinda ill. "So you're the guy she was talking about. I wondered what you were like..." He chuckled weakly. "Are you 'too old' to play with kids, or are you still young at heart?"

"Hey, Hat-kun, do you want to have some Takoyaki with us?" She held up the cardboard carton full of the snacks in question, inadvertently interrupting me before I could answer the guy's question.

"Nah, I just had ramen with Junpei." I held up my hand. "Maybe next time."

The thin guy stood up. "Sorry, I have to get going now, Maiko. I'll see you guys around..."

He slowly walked past us, and I couldn't help but feel like I was looking at a guy on death's doorstep.

"He's gone..." Maiko frowned slightly. "I usually see him around the shrine on Sundays. I see him on the way to cram school, too..."

I'll have to remember that.

"Hey, I'm still hungry!" Maiko waved her empty Takoyaki container around. "Can you buy me some more, Hat-kun?"

"Sure." I looked over at Junpei. "You want some too?"

He shook his head. I shrugged and got some for Maiko, then handed it to her. She started eating one after blowing on it a little to cool it off. I'm surprised Junpei's stickin' around.

"It's so hot I might burn up!" giggled the little girl after she swallowed the last of the piece. "I remember one time Dad burned his mouth on this takoyaki 'cause I put too many in his mouth at once." She did an exagerated paniced face. "He was like, 'Fungaaaaaah!'"

She giggled a little, then fell silent. I winced mentally.

"...Dad doesn't spend much time at home anymore these days..." She said sadly, then her expression brightened. "Oh, but I have a birthday soon! Do you think he'll come home for my birthday?"

"Of course he will!" Both me and Junpei said at once.

"Y-You really think so?" Maiko looked up at us with a happy sparkle in her eyes, then her expression became thoughtful. "I mean, I know Mom will buy me presents, but stil... she hasn't asked me what I want yet..."

Junpei gave me a concerned look as Maiko fell silent again.

"...If they really loved me, then they wouldn't get a divorce..." Maiko looked up at me. "You're the only one who still plays with me, you know."

**CRASH**

Ugh...

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

"Oh, that's right, today's laundry day, so I'd better get home soon!" She hopped to her feet. "If I don't do laundry, the house will be a real big mess!" She started off, turning back to wave at the two of us. "Bye Hat-kun! Bye Beard-kun!"

I supressed a laugh at her nickname for Junpei.

"Hey, dude..." I looked over at him. "What's the deal with that little girl?"

I sighed. "Well..."

* * *

I filled Junpei in on what I knew about the situation with Maiko as we headed back to the dorm. He wasn't happy about it.

"Poor kid..." He sighed. "Goin' back to a broken home..."

"At least she has a home to go back to." I stated. "Even if it's a broken one."

"So how long you been hangin' out with her?"

I shrugged. "About a week after I got out of the hospital. Heard some gossipers mention a lonely-looking kid at the shrine and I decided to check it out."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She took a shine to me pretty quickly, what with my card tricks and stuff." I gave a weak smile. "Does me some good to brighten her day like that."

Junpei smirked. "Nice thing to do. Mind if I tag along sometime?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana._

Ya know, it just occured to me I've been ranking the hell out of his link lately. Ah well. It's cool.

* * *

Talked to Junpei about how we both planned to leave most of the ghost story grunt work to Yukari because she's a bitch during the rest of the trip back to the dorm. Not in those exact words mind you, but I'm pretty sure that's what we were both thinking. When we actually got back to the dorm, Junpei asked if I wanted to head to Tartarus tonight.

"Eh, maybe. I got something to take care of over at the mall first." I replied. "If it's not too late when I get back, we'll hit Tartarus. Go get ready just in case, okay?"

He nodded. "Alright."

* * *

I gleefully fiddled with the taperecorder I got the other day before I approached the shady scamming guy at the mall.

"Hey." I called out. He turned towards me.

"Oh, there you are... I've been looking for you." He gave me a serious look. "I have some unfortunate news reguarding your investment. Things are not running as smoothly as planned."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I would require an additional 10,000 yen to get things back on track..." He continued. "Are you willing to increase your investment by this amount?"

I held out 10,000 yen. "Indeed I am."

He smiled and took the money. "I'll be in touch once your fortune has been made." And then he ran off.

I smirked and hit stop on the taperecorder. Blackmail is fun! Now for the Velvet Room...

* * *

"Hey Igor." I tipped my hat as I entered the Velvet Room. "Hello Elizabeth."

"Hello, Master Roy." answered the Velvet Attendent. "How may we help you?"

I tapped my head as I sat down. "I got a voice in here who fades in and out of conciousness or something like that. He's got something to do with the power I used against that big shadow last month."

Igor and Elizabeth exchanged glances, then turned back to me.

"What does this voice sound like?" asked Igor.

"Me, actually." I replied. "Just a bit... off-kilter, I guess."

Igor nodded thoughtfully. "I see..."

"You know what it is?"

"Possibly..." Igor replied. "We will have to look into this before we can say anything with certainty."

I sighed. "Better then nothing, I suppose." I stood up. "Just, let me know when you find anything out, okay?"

"Of course."

* * *

Got back to the dorm, then broke the news about cancelling the Tartarus run. I didn't really feel up to it, as on the way back from the dorm I passed a random game store and realized I have yet to actually do anything normal for me. Chief among those things being playing Video Games, obviously.

I opted to hook my PS2, which I brought with me along with my 360, DS, and PSP and all my games because, before the whole Dark Hour thing got started, I intended to live here as normally as I did back in the States, and popped in Megaman X8. Because I want new-school-ish graphics and old-school gameplay wrapped up in awesome.

Junpei sat next to me as I started my clear data file on a new game plus. Because I can.

["Ready when you are, X."]

"Whoa, dude..." Junpei blinked in surprise. I groaned to myself.

_["Better watch out, X. I might just steal your spotlight!"]_

"Yes, Junpei, I am well aware I sound a hell of a lot like Axl." I gripped before he could say anything. "Now just shut up and watch how awesome I am."

* * *

To my great surprise, Yukari, Mitsuru, and Akihiko decided to sit and watch me kick ass at X8, showing up in reverse of order that I just listed them off.

"Hey, Roy-kun..."

"Yes, Yukari, I am well aware of the similarity between my own voice and Axl's." I said loudly, glaring at the screen in frustration as the pre-level boss intro finished. I fucking hate Burn Rooster's stage. HATE. "It has only been mentioned by everyone in this room at least once." Probably because I insist on playing as Axl at all times because of how awesome he is. I only switch in Zero or X when I need to get past certain things or I wanna conserve Axl's health without using sub-tanks on him.

"I wasn't aware you were that close to Takeba, Fortune."

I paused and looked over at Mitsuru in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

"You didn't use an honorific."

I raised an eyebrow, then realized what she said and facepalmed. "Oh god fucking damn it, I knew it was matter of time before I forgot that..."

* * *

To my surprise, Yukari was completely cool with the lack of honorifics. Hell, even Mitsuru didn't mind as long as I called her senpai every once in a while, which nearly blew my mind.

"In the sake of fairness, you guys don't have to bother with them with me either." I said as I turned off my PS2. I told myself I'd go to bed after getting through Burn Rooster's bullshit. And I did. "I'm not exactly going to get offended."

"I kinda figured as much." Akihiko commented offhandedly. "Think you'll be up for Tartarus tomorrow?"

"Probably." I replied with a shrug. "For now, sleep."

* * *

Walked to school with Junpei the next day. We mostly chatted about the ghost story. Mainly how we still fully intended to leave it to Yukari because we can.

Nothing else of note happened at school, and right now I'm headin' to Bookworms to chat it up with the Old Folks and mention an idea I that came to me near the end of class to them. I opened the door and they were talkin' to someone who turned and left.

"Oh, Roy-chan, good to see you." Greeted Bunkichi as I walked up to the counter. "Do you know who that was?"

"One of your biggest fans?" I asked with a smirk. That got him laughing.

"Ah, I wish." He shook his head, his laughter subsiding. "No, that was one of our sons former students. He and other graduates have gathered at the school and are collecting signatures to save the Persimmon tree!"

"That's great!" I smirked. "Speaking of which, I wanted to talk to you about that."

They gave me a quizzical look. "You did?"

"Yeah, I had an idea the other day." I nodded. "Why not just ask the school to re-plant the tree somewhere instead of cut it down?"

Mitsuko's eyes widened in surprise and Bunkichi's jaw dropped. I guess it hadn't occurred to them.

"Roy-chan, you're a GENIUS!" exclaimed the old man, walking over and patting me on the back. "That's a great idea!"

"I figure'd you two would like it." My smirk widened into a grin. "And I can probably help. I'm on the Student Council so I can go ask the president herself."

"That's wonderful..." Mitsuko sniffled and wiped a tear from her eyes, and looked at me with a gentle smile. "Thank you, Roy-chan..."

**CRASH**

Whoa, that's a big one...

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana._

"No need to thank me." I said, holding up a hand. "And I'll talk to the president about it tonight, seeing as we live in the same dorm."

"I knew it!" Bunkichi exclaimed happily. "I knew from the moment we met that you were different from the kids around here, Roy-chan! You 'Da man'!"

I feel good about myself now.

* * *

Got back to the dorm and found Mitsuru reading on the lounge sofa again.

"Hey, Senpai, got a favor to ask ya."

She looked up at me as I walked over. "What is it?"

"Well..." I began. "You know that Persimmon Tree near the athletics building?"

* * *

I dropped by Bookworms early in the morning the next day with a huge grin on my face. "Mornin'!"

"Oh, Roy-chan!" Bunkichi looked up at me. "I didn't expect to see you this early."

"That's because this news simply could not wait." I replied confidently. "The President agreed to my suggestion to replant the tree!"

"She did?" He sounds happily surprised, and Mitsuko is completely speechless. I nodded.

"Yeah, Mitsuru-senpai thought it was a nice gesture and she'd already planned on bringing it up at the next meeting anyways." I told them. "She even suggested moving it to that hill nearby."

"The hill...?" Mitsuko sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes. "That's perfect... It will be like our son is watching over the school..."

"Ha-ha! This is wonderful news!" Bunkichi grinned. "You really are good kid, Roy-chan! We can't thank you enough!"

"You're welcome." I replied with a smirk.

"Oh, that reminds me..." Bunkichi walked over to the counter and came back with a fruit in his hand. "Please take this." He handed it to me. "It's the first fruit produced by the persimmon tree... It's a little rough around the edges, like our son." He smiled. "Mitsuko is the one who suggested we give it to you, Roy-chan."

My smirk changed into a smile. "Thanks."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I... And I am thou..._

Oh whoa, this is like with Chihiro...

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured... The innermost power of the Hierophant Arcana has been set free..._

_We bestow upon thee the power to create Kohryu, the ultimate form of the Hierophant Arcana... This bond you have forged cannot be broken..._

Score.

* * *

Because I was up early enough, I managed to catch one of the earlier trains to get to school after I said goodbye to the old folks. To my surprise, I ended up on the same train as Yukari.

"Mornin'..." She yawned. "This sucks... I spent so much time thinking about ghost stories that now I'm having nightmares..."

"How's that goin'?" I took a bite of the fruit after I plucked the leaf off the stem and carefully tucked it into a Coin card in my pocket. Not about to let a surprisingly good piece of fruit go to waste.

"Mm... It's going..." She sighed. "But, there's so many stupid rumors going around that it's tought to put them all together. I did get some useful information, though. I'm gonna look into it more today."

You know, I'm actually curious now about this whole thing now. I'll have to ask Hidetoshi a few questions tomorrow at the next Council Meeting...

* * *

I decided to finally check out the Home Echonomics Room out of sheer boredum and the fact I actually would rather not talk to Maiko today. I can make it up to her next week anyways. I sighed, then pushed open the door.

"Hm?" A set of red eyes looked up at me from a sewing machine. "Oh, Roy-kun..."

I blinked. "Uh, Hi Hamuko..."

"Oh?" The blonde kid from the bookstore turned around to look at me. "Konnichiwa, hello!" He stood up. "I 'aven't seen you since ze bookstore!" He grinned. "You came! I am very 'appy!"

"Oh, you've met Bebe already, Roy-kun?" Hamuko asked, tilting her head. I've noticed she does that a lot. It's actually rather adorable.

I nodded. "Yeah, once." I looked back at Bebe. "So, what's going on in here?"

"Hamuko-sama eez helping me learn ze art of sewing!" He beamed. "Zis eez tanoshii, very fun! Would you like to try?"

"On one condition." I told him. "Can you speak English?"

"Of course!" He replied in perfect english. I looked at Hamuko.

"Can you?"

"Yep." She replied. Also in English.

"Good." I sighed in relief. In English. "No offence or anything dude, but your Japanese is rather horrid and hurts my head."

He sighed. "It's the accent, huh?"

"And the whole 'repeat everything you say' thing you do."

"Ah..." he winced. "I should try to work on that..." He smiled again. "Still, thank you! I was a bit lonely because I didn't have many friends since I came to Japan. But, I'm a lot happier now!"

**CRASH**

Eh. Could be worse.

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

At least I can un-stupid his Japanese with Hamuko's assistance.

"Well, that's good." I told him. "And hey, you mind if I call you Andre? Ya know, because it's your actual name and makes more sense then calling you Bebe?"

He shrugged. "That's fine, but I've kinda grown fond of Bebe."

"Eh." I shrugged as well, then checked my watch. "Oh come on, it's already that late?"

"Huh?" Bebe looked up at the clock. "Whoa! Look at ze time!" He's lapsed back into Japanese. "Well zen, Roy-sama... um, how do you usually bid farewell in Japanese?"

He said that last part in English, by the way. "I go with Ja ne."

"Gotcha." He moved past me and out the door. "Ja ne!"

"You're really going to join the Fashion Club?" Hamuko looked at me with a bemused expression.

"Why not?" I replied, adjusting my hat. "I've made halloween costumes for myself back home." I'm also the one who put the fifty bajillion pockets in my trademark maroon jacket, but she doesn't need to know about that.

* * *

Nothing really special happened at Tartarus that night, we just ran from the highest Guardian floor we could get to to the barrier about five times killing Shadows. Ended up having the Reaper, which Mitsuru claims is the name of the Death Monster with the revolvers, chasing us around twice. He was less trigger happy this time, though. Actually, it seemed like he was trying to seperate me from the others.

Rather odd, if you ask me.

* * *

I was tuning out to random anime theme songs on the way to school the next morning when someone tapped my shoulder. I looked back and slipped my heaphones off to look back at Yukari.

"Hey, remember what we talked about on Monday?" She asked. I raised an eyebrow. "The ghost story? Let's talk about it some more tonight..."

"Woo." I replied with false enthusiasm. "Don't really care."

"Hey! No ditching!" She snapped. "I heard some interesting stories, so make sure you're there, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." I put my headphones back on. Seriously Yukari, work on being less of a bitch.

* * *

Yukari stood up and looked at me and Junpei once class was over.

"Well, today's Friday." She began. "Did you two ask around, like we said?"

"Huh?" Junpei asked with very convincing false forgetfulness. "We had something planned for today?"

Yukari glared at him.

"I know, I know! I'm just kidding!" He said defencively. "Man, you have such a short temper..."

She humph'd slightly. "Then, we'll meet in the lounge after school. Don't forget!"

"Yes, Ma'am..."

"I'm gonna be running a little late, actually." I told her. "I gotta take care of something first."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Oh don't look at me like that." I growled, glaring right back. "I'll show up before it gets too late, so just chill out."

"Alright, fine..." Yukari grunted, then left the classroom in a huff.

"What's this 'something' you gotta take care of?" Junpei asked as I stood up.

"Tell you at the dorm." I replied. "I gotta head to Student Council."

* * *

Things were going to hell in a handbasket when I got to the council room. The Vice President, a sort of sporty-ish girl with short brown hair named Mikoto, was yelling at Hidetoshi.

"How many times do I have to explain?" Hide asked, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "It's like I'm talking to a moron..."

"Why are you accusing ME?" Mikoto snapped. "The cigarette butt was in the BOYS' bathroom, right?"

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME, HIDETOSHI?" I bellowed, causing everyone to look at me. "What kind of warped definition of 'common sence' do you run on?"

"Oh, good, Roy-kun..." The Magician Prick came over to me. "Look man, you gotta ta-"

"URUSAI." I barked right in his face, then shoved past him and grabbed Hide by the shoulder. "Look Hidetoshi, I respect your dedication to catching this guy, but this? This is just fucking rediculous." I looked him right in the eyes. "Accusing everyone does nothing but make trouble and drive the suspect further into hiding."

Hide bit his lip and looked away from me. I sighed.

"Alright, look, this whole thing started the day exam results were posted, right?" Hide looked back at me in confusion, but nodded. "Which bathroom was the butt found in?"

He thought for a moment. "The one on the second floor, just down the hall from here."

"Wait, what?" I raised an eyebrow and let go of Hide. "Huh. That explains why I thought I smelled something burning on the way to class that morning..."

"You did?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think anything of it." I replied. "Sorry man."

"It's alright." He replied.

"Thanks." I turned back towards the entrace of the room and looked over my shoulder. "C'mon, Hidetoshi, we got some investigating to do."

He nodded and followed after me.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana._

Now we roll.

* * *

We talked to a few students hanging around the second floor, but we didn't get much till we were asking two girls near the stairs if they saw anything the day exam results were posted.

"No, sorry." apologised one of them. "But, hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I replied.

"Have you heard anything about the girls who were found outside the school?"

Hidetoshi raised an eyebrow. I did as well.

"Apart from the fact apparently a ghost did it, no..." I said. "Why?"

"Well..." The girl looked around nervously. "It's just that I saw them picking on someone the day after the results went up."

"Really?" Hidetoshi sounds surprised. The girl nodded.

"Yeah, it was a girl from 2-E. I think her name is Fuuka Yamagishi." she told us. "Hasn't anyone brought this up to the Disciplinary Commitee or a teacher yet?"

I shook my head. "First I've heard of it." I looked at Hide. "You?"

"Same." He added grimly. "But I've heard that Yamagishi-san hasn't been at school for at least a week."

What? "Really?" The girls where shocked as well.

Hidetoshi nodded, frowning slightly. "This could be bad..."

"Yeah." I rubbed my chin. "Well, thanks for your help, ladies."

"You're welcome." they replied as me and Hide walked away. I looked at him.

"So we've got nothing on your smoker, but found out there's been some bullying."

"And the bullies in question are the victums of the alleged ghost..." Hide had his right hand on his jaw, his elbow resting in the palm of his left hand. "This could be very serious, Roy-kun."

I nodded in agreement. "I'll look into this while you focus on finding the idiot who likes the idea of lung cancer." I held out a hand. "Deal?"

He smirked and shook my hand. "Deal."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana._

Kickass. I'm gettin' better at these.

* * *

Author Notes - Indeed he is. I think. Hard to tell! For those of you keeping Score, Junpei's Social Link is at least at rank 9 by this point. I know it's kinda lame that I haven't really done a lot of his actual Social Link scenes, but keep in mind, Roy is a very different guy to Minato. I'll touch on a bit of Roy's backstory pretty soon, so chill.

And Hamuko's now in Bebe's social link as well! I figure Chariot is around rank 6 or 7. I say that because on days where Roy gets a rank from both Rio AND Kaz seperately, it counts as only a half-rank because, ya know, two people in the same link? Also got a bit more foreshadowing with Spooky Voice, Maiko has her first appearance in the story, Roy meets Akinari, and the Heirophant link maxxes out! Now, to clarify why I did that, it's because, again, Roy is a different character then the normal P3 protaganists. He thinks in different terms, and thus he thought about re-planting the persimmon tree because it's a logical third option to the situation. And ya know, he's cool like that.

Anywho, I'm starting to run out of stuff to rewrite at this point, so the chapters might start coming more slowly, but they should have more in them. So yeah.


	10. What I know

Got back to the dorm and Yukari 'n Junpei were waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Shut up Yukari. "This is important, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah..." I grunted, flopping down on one of the chairs lazily. If I hadn't been listening to my mellow music the entire trip back I'd probably have slapped the bitch.

"Okay, as we agreed on Monday, we'll now hold a meeting to discuss what we learned."

"Wow..." Junpei commented. "You're really into this."

"Of course." nodded Yukari. "I got lots of good info. It turns out no angry ghost was involved."

"Of course there wasn't a freaking ghost!" I snapped. "Those three girls who were found outside the school gates got attacked by god damn Shadows because they were in proximity of the school when the Dark Hour hit."

Yukari seemed surprised. "So, wait, Shadows are involved?"

I shrugged. "At least for eating their brains when they went to school, probably. Also, you guys want to know why I was late getting back now?"

They nodded. I sat upright.

"Okay then. Thursday morning after I talked to you on the train, your mention of rumors got me wondering about something, Yukari, so I stopped by the Student Council Room today to ask Hidetoshi Odagiri for some help."

"Why him?" Junpei asked.

"Simple." I replied. "I've been trying to help him solve that whole deal with the cigarette butt found in the bathroom, and today he wanted to try asking questions so I went with him, intending to grill him for info once we were done. However, when we were talking to a couple of girls they asked us about the girls found by the gate." I tented my fingers. "Turns out the three victums knew each other to some extent and were picking on someone." I'm going to leave out the detail that it was Fuuka Yamagishi, our potentcial recruit, who was being picked on for now. "I didn't get anything else out of them, though, so I dunno much else about the victums."

"I know a few things." stated Yukari. "The victums didn't hang out just once or twice, they got in with a bad crowd and were always out late. It can't be a coincidence, so to find out what happened, we're gonna do some field research."

"Field research?" Junpei raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding?"

"Yeah, there's this one place where the three victums were regulars."

"Wait..." some of the color drained from his face. "You're not talkin' about that place behind Port Island Station, are you...?"

Yukari seemed surprised. "Oh, you're familiar with it?"

"You can't go there!" Junpei paniced. "I've heard some nasty rumors about that place!"

"Is that so?" she tilted her head slightly. "Well then, we should all go together." She looked at me. "You'll come, right?"

"No way man, don't do it." I looked over at Junpei. "That place isn't safe!"

"We fight against Shadows that throw various flavors of magical and melee death attacks at us and you're worried about punks with knives?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

He opened his mouth an inhaled, as if to start up a counter argument, then he gave a defeated sigh. "Okay, yeah, you've got a point there..."

"Alright then, we'll go tomorrow night." Yukari seems happy. I honestly don't care.

* * *

To take my mind off of Yukari's obnoxious personality, I decided to pay Scammy McBadsuit a visit at the mall.

"Oh, there you are..." He said as I approached. "We ran into a bit of a snag again. Some of the other investors decided to drop out..." He gave a devilish smirk. "Since there are fewer investors, each person's profits will be even bigger! Do you mind investing a bit more?"

"How much more?" I asked.

"Just another 10,000 yen." He told me. "That should be plenty. Are you in?"

I smirked and handed him the money. "Of course I am."

He took the money and had a smirk on his face as he pocketed it and slowly shoot his head, eyes closed.

"My foolish little apprentice..." He began, looking at me. "Have you not yet realized that you are being decived? Everything I've said has clearly been suspicious!" He sighed. "Ignorance should be a crime. Sure, you have some positive qualities, but if you remain so naive, everyone will take advantage of you."

"And if you had a brain..." I began, a sly smirk tugging at my mouth as I pulled out the taperecorder from my pocket. "You'd have counted on me figuring out you were scamming me right from the start and that I'd bring a taperecorder so as to have evidence to use against you."

McBadsuit laughed. "Well well, aren't you clever?" He snatched the taperecorder out of my hand and threw it on the ground, then stomped on it. "But not cle-"

I had a second tape recorder in my hand and a grin on my face. "I have three more after this one."

Now he's sweating bullets. "Hey now, let's talk about this, kid..."

"Very well." I said, putting the recorder back into a pocket inside my jacket. In truth the one he'd broken was new and had nothing on it, and the one in my pocket was the only other one I had, but he didn't know that. "So, who might you be? You look rather familiar..."

He scoffed. "Oh, I'm sure you heard of me." He grinned, then flashed a buisness card.

It said 'President & Executive Producer Tanaka' on it.

"That's right!" beamed Tanaka. "I'm Tanaka. Surely you've heard the name."

This fucking bastard is responcible for that fucking home shopping channel program with that fucking jingle that's now in my fucking head driving me fucking crazy god fucking damn it.

'Easy on the cluster F-bomb, boss.'

Oh shut the hell up.

"I'm afraif I cannot return the 40,000 yen you gave me, but I've autographed my buisness card for you." He handed it to me. "Hold onto that... It'll be worth a pretty penny." I didn't know they used that expression in Japan. "Tootaloo."

Tanaka walked off and sat down on a bench about four feet away and started talking to himself.

"That little brat..." He growled. "Doesn't he realize he's in the presence of a star? I should have charged him extra for a private autograph signing..."

"Say that again?" I asked, holding up the tape recorder as I moved a little closer. "I'm not sure I got everything..."

"GAH!" He lept from his seat. "D-Did you overhear me talking to myself?"

"Better." I rewound the recorder and hit play, his little speech about me being a 'little brat' coming from the small device in my hand. "I got it on tape."

It kept playing till it reached me saying 'better' then I hit stop, then record. Tanaka was practically sweating bullets as I tucked it back into my jacket again, but he tried to act tough.

"You'll get rid of that tape if you know what's good for you. I belong to a powerful talent agency." He threatened. "I'm practically a celebrity. I have an image to maintain..." He glared at me. "Don't even think about telling someone 'he took my money' or 'he called me a little brat'! Capiche?"

"How about you stop trying to threaten me and I don't take this recording to either the cops or a reporter and tell them all about how you're stooping low enough to trying to steal money from High Schoolers?" I countered, raising an eyebrow.

If he was sweating bullets before, he's sweating frag grenades now.

"D-Don't tell anyone, okay?" He pleaded. "Please! I'll lick your shoes clean if you want me to!"

I'm actually tempted to hold up my foot and tell him to start licking to see if he'll actually do it, but I'd rather not have con artist drool on my boots. "Alright, fine."

"S-Seriously? You promise?" asked Tanaka, clearly surprised. "I'll make you swallow a thousand needles if you're lying!" He pointed at me accusingly. "A verbal agreement is considered a contract, and I'll sue your pants off if you breach ours!" He narrowed his eyes. "I've got your smug little face etched into my memory."

**CRASH**

Oh what the fuck

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana.'_

Oh, come on! Seriously!

'Sucks to be you.'

SHUT UP.

"You're a diamond in the rough, my boy." Tanaka said, taking a few steps back. "All you need is a little polishing, and you'll sparkle." He smirked. "I usually stop by here after work. I'd be happy to mold your young mind whenever you wish."

And then he left. God damn it, why couldn't I have gotten the Devil Social Link with a hot nurse at a hospital or something? But, I guess it's not all bad. I'll probably get Satan as a Persona when I max this bitch out.

'That'd be awesome.'

I know, right? But you know what would be more awesome?

'What?'

Cthulhu.

'Oh hell yeah. Ask Igor about that one!'

Damn straight I will.

* * *

Crud. No epic squid monster for me.

'Lame!'

* * *

After school the next day, me, Junpei, 'n Yukari gathered in the lounge.

"Alright!" Yukari clapped her hands together. "Let's get going."

"What's your hurry?" Junpei asked as she moved to grab the doorhandle. "I still think this is a bad idea. How could you be afraid of ghosts, but not be scared of this...?"

"It's easy to be freaked out by something you can't see." She replied in an upity tone. "Don'tcha think?"

"I still can't get over the fact you fight SHADOWS and are afraid of GHOSTS." I muttered. Yukari shot me a glare.

"Actually, I'm more worried about things I CAN see." Junpei snapped. "Like bats and knives!"

"You're scared of getting shanked in the kidney when you fight monsters that throw magical lightning bolts at you?"

Junpei groaned, slapping his palm over his face. He knows I have a point.

"Big deal, so it's a little 'dangerous'..." Yukari sighed. "Come on, it'll be an adventure!" She then opened the door and walked out, smirking to herself.

"More like a suicide mission..." muttered Junpei.

"I was thinking a stupicide mission, personally." I joked, elbowing him slightly. "What with Yukari Takebaka leading the show."

He chuckled to himself as we followed after Yukari.

* * *

You know, the thought occurs to me that I'm probably the only one wearing any of our Tartarus Gear. Mainly the armored version of my jacket, because it's actually pretty cold out tonight. Now I can kinda understand why Junpei was flipping out, he probably didn't think to put his armor on. Same for Yukari, I'd wager.

I'm not actually worried myself, seeing as if all else fails I can just beat the hell out of these punks. I've also got a Cherry Tootsie pop(i didn't know they sold these here till now) in my mouth because I'm weird and acting totally non-chalant about all this as we walked down the alley.

"The hell?"

"Check out the rags." grunted a different guy. "They're from Gekko High."

Junpei swallowed hard. "Oh man, this is worse then I thought."

"Keep it cool, man." I whispered. "I have some backup plans." One being the fact I have the Inventory Card with my gauntlets in it in my sleeve.

He nodded slightly as we followed Yukari closer to the thugs.

"Hey, you, I think you're in the wrong place." A couple of punks moved infront of us. I think Junpei said something, but he got cut off by the guy who spoke. "You don't belong here, get it? Beat it, Goatee!"

Junpei blinked a few times. "G-Goatee..? Oh, you mean me..."

"We don't need your permission to be here!" God damn it Yukari.

"Are you nuts?" Junpei hissed. "Look around you!"

"I'm not blind you know!" snapped Yukari. "Cmon, don't be intimidated by these scum!"

"Oh fer the love of bacon..." I sighed quietly.

'How is it possible for someone to be **that** stupid?' Hell if I know, Spooky Voice.

"What was that?"

"She just called us 'scum'!" called out one of the thuggish girls sitting on a stack of barrels. "Let's get 'em! Who cares where they're from!"

"Yeah, We'll post some pictures that will make her daddy cry!" added the other chick. "She'll wish she was ne-"

"_**URUSAI**_." I bellowed. "I do believe you just tried to sentence one of my friends to a gang rape." I crunched the sucker with my teeth, then pulled out the stick and tossed it aside as I chewed up the candy. "I don't fuckin' think so, bitches."

'Weren't you trying to count how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?'

I was. Hence why I'm so angry I had to eat it.

"What you gonna do, Red?" grunted one of the punks, taking a step towards me. "You gonna yell at us till we give up?"

"No." I replied, then my fist shot out and rammed into his gut. "I'm going to beat your sorry asses into the ground." I drove my knee into his face as he doubled over, then shoved my leg out to knock him back. I stepped back and tilted my head slightly. "Savvy?"

'Jack Sparrow for the win.'

"You little-!" His buddy swung at me, but I grabbed his arm and threw him over my shoulder and onto his back with a satisfying 'WHAM'. Junpei and Yukari stepped back in surprise.

The first guy started staggering to his feet. "Alright you little prick, you're dea-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH."

Oh hell, it's Shinji. The dude who is still more then capable of beating almost everyone in the dorm easily. Only ones who'd maybe give him trouble would be Me and Akihiko.

"They didn't know what they were getting into." He said in an even tone. "I'll make sure they leave, alright?"

"Who do you think you are, dumbass?" spat the guy I kneed in the face twenty seconds ago as he stood up. "You want some too?"

Shinji sighed. "Do I have a choice?"

"That's it, you're goin' down too!" The duded tried to rush Shinji and got a headbutt for his trouble. A powerful headbutt, I might add, as the dude easily flew through the air for at least two feet. And I just now noticed Shinji's got a small metal plate on his beanie. And that he didn't even move a step or pull his hands out of his pockets when he did that headbutt.

Note to self: Shinji is badass incarnate. And his chief export is awesome, with pain being a close second.

"Damn you, Shinjirio!" grunted a third guy I hadn't noticed. "That's right, you're from Gekko High too, ain't ya! I thought you were one of us!"

"What the hell gave you that idea?" Shinjiro tilted his head slightly. Probably raised one of his eyebrows as well, but I couldn't tell because of his beanie. "I don't remember swearing a blood oath."

Oh yeah. Totally badass. The dude who got owned twice in the span of two minutes got up again.

"You son of a bitch! You just crossed the line!" He shouted. "You think you're going home alive?"

"Sure do." Shinjiro stated casually, his stance shifting ever so slightly with his hands still in his pockets. "Wanna give it a try?"

Yeah, that changed their tune. Dude grabbed his buddy off the ground and then bolted with the rest of his little group. The skanks on the barrels laughed and walked away as well.

Once we were alone, he walked towards us.

"Oh man, Senpai, that was awesome!" Junpei commented.

"You idiots!" Shinjiro barked, causing everyone else to flinch. "Get outta here! This isn't a place for you."

He turned to leave, but Yukari spoke up. "Wait! We came here for a reason."

He looked back, then realized something. "You guys... You were at the hospital." He scoffed slightly. "Did Aki tell you to come here?"

"No, short, brunette, and stupid suggested that idea." I replied, pointing at Yukari with my thumb. I could feel her glaring at the back of my head. Yeah, don't care.

Shinjiro hmph'd at us. "What do you wanna know? About the ghost story?"

"Um, yeah..." Yukari replied. "How'd you know?"

"It's a rumor." He said, sitting down on some nearby steps. "Those girls who wound up in the hospital were here talkin' shit every night about all the things they'd done to some girl named Fuuka."

"Fuuka?" Junpei asked. "You mean Fuuka Yamagishi, from 2-E? They were picking on her?"

"I heard about that from those girls I talked to with Hidetoshi." I stated.

"That's why people are saying it's Fuuka's spirit that did it. I hear it's all over the 'net, too."

"Fuuka's spirit?" Yukari tilted her head. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"What do you think?" I asked sarcastically. "He's implying that she's DEAD."

"Your friend's right." Shinjiro stated. "She hasn't been home in over a week. Don't you guys go to school? How do you not know this?"

'Good Question.'

Indeed.

"Are you serious? I thought she was out sick... but she's missing?" I'm with Junpei. That's messed up.

"So much for the ghost story..." Yukari sighed. "Mr. Ekoda is the homeroom teacher for 2-E, right? Does he know about this...?"

Before anyone could answer, Shinjiro stood up.

"I get it, Aki... Still trying to make up for the past." The hell's he on about? "It's you who can't let go..." He looked back at us. "That's all I know. Satisfied?"

"Y-Yeah!" Junpei said quickly. "Thanks, Senpai!"

"Thanks! You totally helped us out." Yukari added. "...You're very kind."

"Huh?"

"I, um... nevermind!" She stammered quickly.

"Tch..." Shinjiro started away from us. "Don't come here again."

I watched him as he left. I think I have an errand to run tomorrow...

* * *

I made my way back to the station in the morning with my Tartarus gear on under my regular clothes in case the punks wanted to fight again, provided they were even there of course. I went with a maroon button-up shirt(left open, naturally) in place of my usual jacket and slightly more lightweight grey jeans because of the heat. When I got there, I was greeted by the sight of Shinjiro sitting on the stairs by himself with nobody else around.

"Hey." I called out. He looked up at me and frowned.

"What're you doing here?"

"Came to talk." I replied, sitting on a nearby barrel. "I know you left SEES."

He didn't seem surprised. "Aki mentioned you grilled him after we met at the hospital because you could sense my Persona."

"Not really grilled, but I asked a few questions." I shrugged. "Said you guys had something of a falling out and that we should leave the handling of getting you back into SEES to him."

Shinjiro laughed. "He's gonna kill you when he finds out you're here."

"Nah." I dismissively waved my hand. "I didn't come to drag you back. I came to find out why you left."

"Why?" He gave me a wary look.

"To be honest, I'm curious." I told him. "I'd like to know your reason for not fighting."

"Why should I tell you?"

I looked at Shinjiro. "Because whatever the hell happened probably had something to do with the Dark Hour, or else you'd have gotten over it by now."

"Tch." He looked away. "Still not a good reason."

"Then how about you tell me what's up with your Persona instead?"

He looked back at me in confusion.

"I can't exactly tell much about a Persona outside of its name, Arcana, and overall power, but there's something weird about yours." I told him. "It's like... I dunno, it's got no willpower or something."

I'm not making that up either. Normally a Persona feels like a person to me, but Shinjiro's? I can't really describe it, but there's something wrong with it.

"It's nothing." He told me. "I've got it under control."

I narrowed my eyes. He's lying. Badly.

"No you don't." I said. "Something happened with your Persona, and now you're doing something to it."

He winced and turned away again. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I can find out very easily." I told him. "I've got connections in strange places, and they know more about Personas then everyone at the dorm combined."

That surprised him. "You tell Kirijo about these 'connections' of yours?"

"No." I replied. "She's got her company telling her stuff, I've got people in a magic blue elevator telling me stuff. Kinda evens things out in my book."

"Tch. Whatever." He said. "I'm still not telling you what happened."

I sighed. "You've already confirmed that whatever caused you to leave had something to do with your Persona, which means the Dark Hour is involved. And whatever it was is why you're doing whatever the hell you're doing to your Persona."

Shinjiro glared at me. "So?"

"So I'm not going to stop bothering you until you tell me what it is." I grunted. He said nothing, so I sighed. "Fine, then what happened to Akihiko?" He looked confused again. "I heard your comment about how he's the one still trying to make up for the past."

"Go ask him if you want to find out."

"I asked you because you said it's him who can't let go, which to me means he's said the same thing to you."

He sat there in silence.

"It's about why you left, isn't it?"

He nodded slowly.

"You screw up to a massive degree?"

"Somethin' like that."

I frowned. "They still angry at you for it?"

"Probably not, but it doesn't matter."

"Why not?" I raised an eyebrow.

Shinjiro sighed in defeat. I'm very persistant. Having both Berith and Gurr, Personas of the Hierophant and Moon Arcanas respectively, on hand probably helped as well. "I lost control of Castor. Aki and Kirijo managed to stop him, but not soon enough to stop him from killing a woman."

"That's it?" I asked. While yes, it is probably pretty heavy to actually kill someone, this is just rediculous. "That's what happened? Are you shitting me?"

He glared at me and stood up. "That's it? She had a kid, you prick! He's an orphan now because of what I did, and there's no way he can ever see his mother's killer see justice because there's no way I can be punished because of the god damn Dark Hour! Do you have ANY ide-"

"How many murders commited by people without a Persona do you think have gone unpunished for years on end?"

That stopped his words, and he looked at me in awe.

"Well?" I asked, standing up. "How many? I don't know myself, but it's a fair bet that it's a lot. Day in and day out, crimes are commited all over the world by criminals who get off scott free. Some of those criminals probably go on to commit other crimes as well!" I glared at Shinjiro. "You, on the other hand, are someone who was trying to save people when your power when out of control and got someone killed." Shinjiro winced. "Thinking you're going unpunished is bullshit, because you've been living with the knowledge that a manifestation of your own psyche rampaged and killed some kid's mother."

I sighed, then pulled a card out of my pocket. It morphed into an Evoker.

"I don't know what you're going through exactly, but you know what I know?" I looked Shinjiro dead in the eyes. "What I know is that beating yourself up over the past won't change what happened. What I know is that you have to look at your mistakes and fight tooth and nail to never let them happen again. What I know isn't what it's like to have someone's blood on my hands. What I know is what it's like to loose someone important." I shoved the Evoker into his hand. "What I know is what it's like to have your mother bleed to death in your arms when you're six years old while you scream for help in a world of green with bloody streets illuminated by yellow moonlight where nobody can hear you."

He looked up at me from the Evoker.

"What I know is that no-one can change the past." I turned away from him. "What I know is that anyone can change the future." I walked away and left Shinjiro in silence.

* * *

Author Notes- Yeah, Roy's got some heavy emotional baggage. Also, first mention of what Personae he's got in his head nowadays in a while! And Tanaka gets Blackmailed(sorta)! And More jokes are attempted! And other stuff happens!

Up next is the Full Moon, which is going to be a chapter all its own. Crazy stuff will happen, and it might just be awesome. I hope.


	11. Operation: Rescue Yamagishi

I wasn't exactly in a good mood when I got back to the dorm, but nobody seemed to mind much. I went up to my room and hopped onto Inocent Sin. Maya 'n me chatted a bit, but nothing much came of it except this nagging feeling I know her from somewhere. It's starting to drive me nuts!

Anywho, Monday came around and there was only one thing on my mind; Yelling at Ekoda because he's a bastard. Well I also wondered what Shinjiro might be up to, because I really doubt my little speech had an impact on him, but that's not quite as important.

Me, Junpei, and Yukari went down to the Faculty office at Lunch and found Mitsuru had beaten us there and was talking to Mr. Ekoda and a dark skinned girl.

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai." Yukari sounded surprized. "Why are you here?"

She looked at us for a moment. "Same reason as you." She looked back at the teacher. "Mr. Ekoda, I'm here to talk to you about a student named Fuuka Yamagishi."

The girl sitting in the chair looked up with panic in her eyes. "No! I-I never thought it'd turn out like this... Fuuka..."

"Wait... You're that girl..." Apparently Yukari has seen her before. Mitsuru's visible eye narrowed.

"What did you do to Yamagishi?"

"Hold on, Mitsuru, this isn't an interrogation." Said Ekoda, trying to calm Mitsuru down. One thing I admire about my senpai is that she's very straight too the point. Also the fact that basically everyone forever who's not me is terrified of her. It's hilarious. "Natsuki, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. You wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea..."

"Fuuka... She... She always looked so flustered when I gave her a hard time..." Natsuki began. "Then I realized...she's an honor student, but deep inside, she's the same as us. I knew exactly which buttons to push... we were just messin' with her that day, too!" She held her head in her hands. "May Twenty-ninth... We took Fuuka to the gym... and locked the door from the outside..."

"What?" Junpei was taken aback. "You locked her in?"

I can see where this is going.

"That night, Maki went back to school alone," She continued. "She was afraid we'd get in trouble if Fuuka committed suicide... But she never came back... and the next morning..."

"...she was found lying on the ground by the gate." Finished Yukari.

Natsuki nodded weakly. "I went to the gym to let Fuuka out, but the door was still locked, so I opened it and went inside, but she wasn't there! We all freaked out. Starting that night, we went out looking for her... but every night, another one of us wound up missing... and they each ended up like Maki!"

"I see..." Mitsuru murmured before turning on a full-power glare at Ekoda. "By the way, Mr. Ekoda... All this time, you've attributed Yamagishi's absences to 'illness', but in reality, she was missing. You must have been aware of that. What was your intention?"

"I was thinking of the students, of course." Ekoda replied. "You children may not understand, but we have to con-"

"I'm calling bullshit on you right there, dude." I snapped. "We understand this fully. What it boils down is YOU KNEW she was gone and didn't say anything to anyone because you're worried about your own sorry ass."

"Watch your tone, young man!" Ekoda snarled, standing up and glaring at me. "I am a teacher, and you are my stu-"

_**"URUSAI."**_ I barked loud enough to actually make everyone in the room jump. Ekoda looked like he'd just come face to face with a demon or something from the way the color drained from his face. I turned to Mitsuru. "Take it from here please, Senpai." Otherwise I'm going to pull that stick Ekoda's got stuck up his ass out and beat him to death with it.

"Thank you, Fortune." I think my shout freaked her out a little. "So, Mr. Ekoda, to protect your career, you ignored your responsibility as a teacher..." She's quick to get back to being angry. "How despicable...!"

Ekoda tried to sputter something out, but Mitsuru just moved infront of him and looked down at Natsuki.

"About your friends... Did you notice anything unusual before the incidents?" She asked. "Anything at all...?"

"They all heard a voice." Natsuki replied. "A creepy voice... right before each one of them went missing. They said it was calling their name..."

"Oh man..." Junpei gets it.

"Senpai, could it be...?" Wow, I think YUKARI gets it as well!

_'Want me to see if the sky is falling and if the seas are running red with blood?' _

Nah, that won't happen till Yukari appologizes to everyone for being a stupid bitch.

_'So, basicly when the universe is about to end?' _

Pretty much.

Mitsuru walked towards as and moved us a bit further away, speaking quietly. "It's them, no doubt about it. Until now, there was no way of knowing how or why some peopleN are conscious during the Dark Hour... this whole thing made me realize they're clearly targeting humans. Shadows are the enemy of mankind." She turned back to Natsuki. "Stay at our dorm tonight. It's the safest place." Natsuki nodded as Mitsuru continued, "If you hear the voice, tell us immediately. And don't leave the room, no matter what. If you can do that much, you should be okay." Mitsuru's expression softened slightly. "Don't worry; Yamagishi should be alright as well."

She turned back to the rest of us. "We'll meet after school in the student council room to discuss tonight's operation."

"T-Tonight?" Okay, maybe Junpei DOESN'T get it.

"We're going to rescue Yamagishi." Mitsuru stated. "If my guess is right, she's still inside the school." 

* * *

I made a beeline for the Student Council Room after class with Junpei. I dunno what Yukari's deal is apart from maybe Archery, but she wasn't there for a while. Mitsuru and Akihiko showed up and did the expected 'Where's Yukari?'. One short explanation later and Yukari herself showed up so we could get this show on the road.

"All set."

"Good. Tonight, we will infiltrate the campus." Mitsuru began. "Our objective is to rescue Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Um, I don't get it..." said Junpei. "Is Fuuka inside the school somewhere?"

"Okay then, Abridged Version of the explanation!" I stated, clapping my hands together. "At midnight, the school turns into Tartarus. Akihiko said Fuuka might have the potential, so she got sucked into Tartarus when the Dark Hour hit."

"Then, ever since Fuuka got locked in the gym, she's been stuck there...?" Yukari asked. Mitsuru nodded.

"But, that was ten days ago!" pointed out Junpei. "That means..."

"Not necessarily." stated Akihiko. "We can't jump to conclusions. Tartarus only appears during the Dark Hour. So, what about the rest of the day?"

"Ah, I see where you're going with this." I rubbed my chin. "Because of the Dark Hour, Tartarus runs on a different timeframe where one hour in Tartarus equates to one day outside the Dark Hour. That basically means Fuuka-san's been lost and scared for ten hours, is probably worn out as all hell and pretty damn hungry. On that note, we should bring snacks with us."

"But even if that's how it works, the Dark Hour is pretty brutal." Junpei sounds worried. "Except for Roy, we can barely handle an hour, how's she gonna last ten?"

"That's true..." Yukari added grimly. "And even if she's still alive, we might no-"

"Don't you _DARE_ finish that sentence." I snapped. "If she is alive we are _GOING_ to find her, end of story."

"Roy's right, are you just gonna let her die?" Akihiko shares my outrage, but he calmed down quickly. "I have an idea. Let's try to enter Tartarus exactly how Fuuka did. We'll go to the gym and wait for midnight. That's the quickest way."

Yukari gave Akihiko an uneasy look. "Is that really gonna work...?"

"Honestly, I have reservations." Mitsuru sounds shaken. "If something goes wrong, you could all end up lost in Tartarus too. But..."

"I won't stand by and do nothing if there's a chance that we can save her. I'd never forgive myself." growled Akihiko. "If you guys don't want to go, I'll go by myself."

"Hey, I'm with ya man." I stated. "I'm not about to let someone die on my watch if there's something I can do about it."

Mitsuru sighed. "Alright. We're aware of the risks, but we can't just leave her there."

"I agree." added Yukari. "And we don't know until we try."

"Cool, we get to sneak into the school!" chuckled Junpei. "Heheh... In that case, I know just what to do..."

* * *

Mitsuru sighed as she put her phone away. We're gathered in the comment room right now, decked out in Tartarus Gear under our clothes like usual. I've recently taken to the bright idea of using both my armored jacket and other armor for added defence. Akihiko has as well ever sense I got an armored replica of his favorite winter jacket from Elizabeth. I also stashed some snacks in a few Staff Cards for Fuuka. Apparently some kinds of snacks and drinks have magical healing effects on Persona Users. Who knew?

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get ahold of the Chairman." Mitsuru replied.

Yukari shrugged. "I guess we can handle it ourselves."

"There's one problem, though." No there's not. "Without the Chairman's help, I'm not sure how we can get inside the school..."

"No need to worry, I've got it all set to go." Junpei said confidently.

"Set to go...?" Mitsuru got a devilish smirk on her face. "An explosive?"

Not likely, though it would be awesome. Judging by Mitsuru's chuckle, she thinks it would be as well.

"Very well. I'll let you handle it."

Akihiko stood up. "We don't have time to waste. Let's go."

The two Upper classmen started out of the room, and Yukari turned to Junpei.

"An explosive?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "For real?"

"Nah." He replied. "All I did was unlock a door."

Good ol' Junpei. 

* * *

"See? We got in no problem." Junpei stated proudly once we were in the school. "Man, I'm a genius!"

"Is that really something to brag about?" Quit being a bitch Yukari.

"So you unlocked it earlier..." Mitsuru sounds both impressed and disappointed. She wanted an explosion as much as I did. "Tres bien!"

"No time for compliments." grunted Drill Sergeant Sanada. "Let's go."

"Tray ben...?" Junpei looked at me. "What's that mean? That's not English, is it?"

"Nah, it's Spanish." I told him. "It means 'Very Good', so apparently you impressed Mitsuru."

"Oh, okay. Cool."

* * *

We snuck into a classroom for a quick planning session and to avoid any night guards.

"Can we turn on the lights...?" Yukari asked, shaking slightly.

I'd like to point out I have excellent night vision. Seriously, give me like, six or seven minutes in a dark place and I can see fine. I think it comes from my mom's side of the family, considering my uncle once asked how I could see so well one time when the power went out at night durring a rain storm. I take that as a sign my family tree is by no means normal, mentally or physically.

"Aww, you scared?"

"No!" Yukari snapped. "Stupei..."

"Stop callin' me that!" I second that outrage.

"Quiet." Akihiko grunted as Junpei grumbled to himself. "It's better we leave 'em off. They cut the power at night anyway."

"I just don't like sneaking around..." Yukari said weakly.

"First, we have to find the key to the gym." Mitsuru began. "Akihiko and I will check the janitor's room, the rest of you will check the Faculty Office."

"The Faculty Office, huh?" Junpei smirked evilly. "Hey, maybe they'll have some test questions..."

"Maybe I should go to the Faculty Office too." Oh god, you too Akihiko? "It sounds interesting."

"Are you guys suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" I asked, mainly because I can see Mitsuru glaring DEATH at the two of them.

"You're not planning something unscrupulous under my supervision, are you?" Wow, even Mitsuru's TONE is dripping with death. "If so, then expect to be severely punished!"

Oh hell, Akihiko looks like he's staring death in the face. Note to self: Never get Mitsuru angry like this. Ever.

_'Yeah, seriously.' _

"It-It was a joke!" Junpei stated defensively. "I'd never do something like that!" He laughed nervously.

"Come on, Mitsuru..." Akihiko griped. "Lighten up a little..."

"Fine." She gave them a narrow glare. "Let's head over to the janitor's room. Iori, you're coming with us."

Great. I get left alone with the spooky voice in my head and my least favorite member of our merry band of misfits. I sighed and looked over at Yukari.

"Alright, let's get this over with." 

* * *

We managed to get to the lobby of the school without incident, mainly because I insisted Yukari hold onto my jacket because I can actually see where the hell I'm going, when we heard footsteps.

"You hear that?" **YES, YUKARI, I DO.**

"Hide!" I hissed, diving behind a pillar.

Yukari quickly joined me and stuck close as a flashlight beam cut through the darkness. We watched in silence as it passed over various parts of the room, then moved away and the footsteps started heading away from us.

"It's just a security guard..." Yukari sighed.

"Stop freaking out." I grunted.

"No, I'm not!" She snapped. "I'm just a little nervous, that's all! Do you blame me? I mean we did bre-"

Her cellphone went off and she screamed and latched onto me. God damn it, let go of my jacket, psycho bitch!

She quickly backed off, then pulled out her phone and looked at it, then sighed. "Figures... just spam."

"Yukari, I'm not even going to ask why you didn't shut your phone off." I growled, glaring at her. "But for now, let's just get going."

We got to the Faculty Office without any more of Yukari's bullshit, and first thing Yukari did was push past me and start digging around for the key.

"No... No... It's so dark, I can barely read these."

She pulled out a key and held it up to me.

"What does it say on this one?"

Jackpot, but I feel like spiting her. "Morgue."

"What, are you trying to scare me or something?"

"Of course." I replied, taking the key. "It's the gym key. Now shut up and let's go."

"You'll pay for that, you know."

"Whatever." I waved my hand dismivively over my shoulder as I walked out of the Faculty Office.

_'Messing with her is fun.'_

I know, right?

* * *

We met up with everyone else in the foyer a few minutes later.

"Did you find the key?"

"Yep." I held up the key in question.

"Ya know, I heard a scream that sounded kinda familiar..."

I smirked slightly as Yukari looked away.

"What, you actually did?" Junpei asked in surprise. "I was just kidding..."

"You wanna make somethin' o-"

"Keep it down!" hissed Akihiko angrily. I'm glad he doesn't approve of Yukari's bullshit either.

"Alright, we'll divide into teams again." stated Mitsuru. "One team will enter Tartarus, the rest will remain outside with me. Once the Dark Hour has begun, I'll determine Yamagishi's position."

"I'll go." Akihiko said quickly. "You should come too, Roy. You can take the lead like always."

"Um, then, I'll come wi-"

"No." I said quickly. "I want Junpei to come with us."

"Huh? Why him?"

"He's a heavier hitter then you are, and I got a couple decent healing Personas with me to handle any trouble." I told her. "Plus I kinda owe it to him after what happened on the monorail."

"Hey, thanks man!" Junpei held up his hand for a high-five. I obliged.

"Oh... Okay..." Yukari looked at Mitsuru uneasily.

"What's wrong, Yukari?" Akihiko asked. "You don't want to stay behind with Mitsuru?"

"N-Nothing, I'm fine..."

"It's almost time."

* * *

"So what happened with Yuka-tan?" Junpei asked as the three of us sat against a wall in the Gym.

"Her phone went off. Apparently she got junk mail." I told him. Weird thing with cellphones in Japan, they send E-mails instead of text messages. Took me a little while to get used to that. "I had a little fun messing with her in the faculty office when we found the key. Told her it said 'Morgue'."

"Ha! Nice!" Bro five. "But man, this is boring... How much lon-"

_**DOOM **_

* * *

Oh god... that was six kinds of wrong... I am never standing in the school when the Dark Hour hits ever again...

I staggered to my feet somewhere in Arqa. I'm in a large room and I'm by myself. Shit.

"Are you awake?" I spun around and found Jailhouse standing next to me. "This is the first time we've spoken outside of your room."

"Damn kid, you got serious ninja skills..."

"I told you, remember? I'm always with you." He smirked. "But we don't have much time to talk. Tonight there is more than one ordeal you must face." Oh son of a bitch... "You should hurry... she's waiting for you. You guys will need her."

"Good point. I should get moving..." I turned away.

"Okay, then. I hope we can speak again..." And now he's gone. I sighed, then triggered the Sword Card with my weapon in it. I opted to try out a Short Sword tonight just to see if I'm any good with it, because honestly just punching and kicking was getting kinda boring. I started around the corner and came face to face with the Reaper.

Okay, more like Face-to-Torso, but you get the idea. I took a step back in surprise.

"Oh, uh, hey there..." I said, waving my non-sword holding hand.

The Reaper just stared at me silently. I sighed.

"You're here to kill me, huh?"

**'No.' **

I recoiled in surprise. I was not expecting him to actually talk. "Uh, then why ARE you here?"

**'I am here to find out just what you are.' **

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "I'm human."

**'You are no ordinary human.'** The Reaper stated. **'You have the soul of a demon.' **

_'No, that's just me in here.' _

I don't think he can he-

**'And what might you be?' **

"Wait, you can hear him?" I asked. The Reaper nodded.

**'I also saw the child you spoke to moments ago.'** Holy shit he can see Jailhouse? Damn... **'Now, what are you?' **

_'I'm part of him, just like those things he shoots out of his head to fight Shadows.' _

The Reaper rubbed his chin with the back of his right index finger, still holding the revolver in his hand. **'I see.' **

"Uh, don't mean to be rude or nothing, but can you please move?" I asked the Reaper. "I'm kind of in a hurry to find someone."

**'You seek the girl?'** He asked, looking down at me.

"Oh, you've seen her?"

**'Indeed.' **The Reaper pointed behind him with one of his guns as he moved aside. **'She is further along the path.' **

"Thanks." I said, starting down the hall. "We'll get out of your tower once we find her."

**'I am only letting you go on one condition, human.'** Stated the Reaper, blocking my path with one of his guns. **'You are to return within the next two hours after you leave and speak with me, or I will destroy you the next time we meet.' **

"Duely noted." I replied, wincing. The Reaper then withdrew his gun and vanished into one of the walls as I walked away. Damn, the hell have I gotten myself into?

* * *

As I walked along, static suddenly blared through my communicator thingie. _"Is- -ere? Ar- alri-?"_

I put my hand to my earpiece. "Senpai, it's Roy. Come in!"

_"Fo- ca- -l, Akihi- -Iori g- -per- -n't con-"_

Damn it all, the signal's staticly as hell. Must be why she never noticed Fuuka loose in the tower; She's out of Mitsuru's range. I sighed and kept moving.

_{Who are you...?}_ asked a voice. {_Are you human?} _

I looked around. "Hello?"

_{Where am I?}_ The voice asked again. _{Why am I here? Please answer me... Is someone there?}_

"HEY, CAN YOU HEAR ME!"

_{What was that? Who's shouting?}_

Oh sweet, she's close! I charged around a corner, stomping loudly. I got to another large room and nobody was there. "Hey, you still there?"

Someone's teal-haired head poked around the edge of the entrance on the other side of the room.

"Who are you...?" asked the girl. Priestess Arcana.

"Roy Fortune." I replied. "Are you Fuuka Yamagishi?"

She nodded and quickly moved towards me. "Y-Yes, I am..."

"Thank god..." I sighed. "I came here to find you. You okay? None of the beasties got to you or anything?"

"SO there ARE strange creatures here..." She said, clasping her hands over her chest. "I've managed to avoid them so far..."

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She nodded, and I got a faint read on her Persona. It's active, but not fully awakened. "Good to know." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few Staff Cards, then had them spit out a bottle of SoBay, a BauerBar, and a small loaf of Melon Bread. "Here, take these." I handed her the snacks, then tucked the cards back into my jacket after getting myself a BauerBar cos ah gots dah munchies. "You must be starving."

"Thank you!" Fuuka gave me a grateful smile before tearing into the bread like a starved wolf. I honestly don't blame her.

"Okay, now we need to find my friends so we can get out of her..." I said, looking over at the way she came as I took a bite of my bar and gripping my sword tighter. "You passed any staircases?"

She nodded, taking a sip of her drink before answering me. "Yes, I found one right before I heard you shouting."

"Cool." I grinned. "C'mon, and stick close."

She nodded again and followed me as she chowed down. Got to the stairs and went up, finding Akihiko and Junpei pretty quickly.

"Hey, there he is!" Junpei pointed at me, and Akihiko turned around.

"Is that Fuuka Yamagishi?" asked Akihiko as we approached. Fuuka was still demolishing the loaf of bread, then quickly started on the BauerBar once she was done with it.

"Yeah." I replied. "Apparently she's been dodging shadows for the last ten hours."

"What?" Akihiko looked at her in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Fuuka nodded, swallowing the last of the bar she was eating. "Umm, it's hard to describe, but... I can sort of tell where they are..."

"Short version; She's got a Persona." I said. "Must be better at scanning then Mitsuru-senpai's."

"I see..." Akihiko pulled out a spare Evoker and handed it to her. "Hang on to this."

Fuuka gasped. "B-But, this is...!"

"It's not really a gun." I told her. "More like a last resort."

She nodded understandingly, but was still nervous at the sight of the weapon. We started off but stopped when we past one of the first windows I've ever seen in Tartarus.

"Whoa, check out the moon!" Junpei whistled. "I've never seen it so bright..."

"Some research indicates that the Shadows are affected by the phases of the moon." chimed in Akihiko. "Of course, the same can be said of humans."

"That would explain Yuka-tan's mood swings..." Junpei joked. I snickered a little, then noticed Junpei looking back out at the moon thoughtfully. "Hey, wasn't it a full moon the night we went to the monorail?"

Akihiko looked at me. "Was it?"

I nodded. "Same with the night the dorm was attacked back in April."

Akihiko panicked and fumbled with his earpiece, trying to contact Mitsuru. The transmission was still too staticy, but I could hear her mention Shadows. I frowned.

"What is this thing...?" Fuuka gasped, her eyes widening in panic. "It's much bigger than the others... and it's attacking someone..."

"FUCK!" I bellowed. "Junpei, grab Fuuka! We need to get down to the bottom of Tartarus, _NOW!_"

"Roy, you don't think..."

"Yeah, it's one of THEM." I answered Akihiko. "They show up on every full moon!"

Junpei quickly grabbed Fuuka bridal style as the rest of us tore off down the hallway.

* * *

I spotted the access point and leapt at it, diving through it and springing out of the teleporter at the base of the tower.

Holy shit. There's two this time.

"There's two of 'em?" Oh hi Akihiko. Then he noticed what the tall, skinny one with the Emperor mask was holding in its hand. "MITSURU!"

She gave a weak moan in response.

"What's going on?" stammered Yukari gasping for breath and on her knees, clutching her evoker. "Nothing's working!"

Then the shadows noticed us. Then Natsuki walked in.

"What in the hell? Why's she here?" My thoughts exactly, Junpei.

Natsuki called out for Fuuka and fell to her knees. She looks like a freaking zombie.

"Moriyama-san!" Wow, Fuuka, you are more forgiving then JESUS. She tried to talk sense into Natsuki to get her to leave, but the tan girl was in a trance and was trying to apologize. The fat one with the Empress mask started towards them. Fuuka noticed and sprang to her feet, taking out the evoker Akihiko handed her.

"That's not a weapon!"

_{I know...}_ Fuuka's voice came from inside my head.

**BANG  
**

Fuuka's Persona took the form of a woman in a huge ballgown with bandages wrapped around her eyes and a red face. Fuuka herself, along with Natsuki, were inside the ballgown that looked like a crystal ball full of water with fabric around the back.

And it completely blocked the Empress Shadow's attack and sent it flying into the Emperor shadow, causing it to loose its grip on Mitsuru. She fell to the ground and slid to a stop near us, and Akihiko rushed over to her.

"I'm alright..." She as he helped her sit up. "Be careful, normal attacks don't work on these Shadows." She turned to look at the destroyed bike next to the stairs. "And all of our instruments have been completely destroyed..."

"Just stay still!" Akihiko snapped, then he looked at Fuuka. "Besides..."

_{I can see...}_

Fuuka?

"Is that the voice...?" asked Mitsuru.

_{I... I can see these monster's weaknesses somehow...}_ Fuuka stated in our minds. Damn, she's got way better reception then the fucking headset Mitsuru had us using. I yanked the damn thing out of my ear, glad to be rid of it.

"Just as I thought..." Akihiko grinned as he stood up. "Mitsuru, let her take your place."

"I get it now..." She said. "Yamagishi, can you assist the others?"

_{I'll do my best!}_ Fuuka sounds nervous, but I can hear the determination in her voice.

"Here, Yukari!" I handed her a few cards with medical stuff in them to her. "Use these to patch yourself up along with Mitsuru, we'll take card of the Shadows!"

She nodded in understanding before I charged past Fuuka with Akihiko and Junpei.

"Fuuka, what works on these things?" Not even going to bother with honorifics to save myself time.

_{The big one is weak to physical attacks of any kind, and the tall one is vulnerable to elemental attacks.}_ She reported. _{Darkness and Light won't work on either, though.} _

_"_Good to know!" I shouted, dodging a slash from the Emperor. "Akihiko, Junpei, you two beat the shit out of the fat one while I magic the hell out of tall, dark, and stupid!"

I heard them agree to the plan as I put my Evoker to my head. "NIGI MITAMA!"

I blasted out the facet of my soul to blast the tall one with a Garu. He fell over, and I heard Junpei shout 'HOME RUN!' and the sound of something fat and ugly hitting the ground.

"I've been waiting for this!"

"GET 'EM!" I shouted as we charged for the downed Shadows.

I love Big Balls of Violence, even if they make no sense. Unfortunetly, the two shadows knocked us back then started glowing. I stood up first and put my evoker to my head. "PERSONA!"

**BANG**

Gurr flew out of my head and dove at the Empress Shadow with a Power Slash, only for its attack to bounce off hamrlessly. "WHAT THE HELL?"

_{They've changed their weaknesses somehow!}_ Fuuka reported. _{The Empress is only weak to piercing Physicals and Wind and Ice magic now!}_

"Oh come on!" Junpei griped. "That's cheating!"

"My thoughts exactly!" I replied. "Okay, you two attack the tall one, I'll pummel the fat one!"

"Alright!" Akihiko shouted, surging to his feet and charging at the Emperor with Junpei. I lept back to dodge an attack from the Empress, blasting Neko Shogun out of my head to throw a Bufu at it. It worked pretty well, but the Shadow was still standing enough to throw another attack at me. I got knocked back by a Garu, sending me skidding to the ground near the door.

"ROY!"

"I'm fine!" I shouted back at Junpei. I looked at him a- WHOA, holy shit, he's parrying the Emperor's sword with his own! GO JUNPEI!

"Rrrgh..." He growled, straining against the massive sword. **"BACK OFF!" **

Junpei's sword suddenly burst into flame before he shoved the Emperor back, a wave of fire launching from his sword at the massive shadow, knocking it down.

_'How the FUCKING HELL did he do that?'_

Beats me, but it's got tons of fun distracted! **BANG** "NIGI MITAMA!" And now the Empress is down. I looked over at Junpei, who was staring at his no longer on-fire sword with awe.

"Dude, what the hell did I just do?" He asked aloud.

"I dunno, but try to do it again!" I shouted at him. "But first, HIT 'EM WITH AN ALL-OUT ATTACK!"

"Now!" yelled Akihiko as the three of us instigated another Big Ball of Violence. Once again, the shadows threw us back but they had a harder time staggering to their feet, again doing their little glowy thing.

"Fuuka, did they switch resistances again?"

_{Yes, they did! The Emperor is vulnerable to Slashes, Ice and Electricity now!}_

"Thankies!" I said with a smirk. "Junpei! See if you can do that fire sword again and toast the fat one!"

"You got it!" He charged for the Empress, his longsword bursting into flames once more. I ran at the Emperor, dodging under its sword before slashing at its chest with my own while Akihiko Zio spammed the living shit out of it. I looked at Junpei, and he'd just fire waved the Empress down and was moving towards its head.

"AND STAY DEAD!" He shouted, ramming his burning blade into the mask of the Empress before the entire thing caught fire. Junpei violently ripped his sword out and backed away from the screaming Shadow as it desolved into nothing.

"Nice work, Junpei!" I cheered as I rolled out of the way of another attack from the Emperor. "Now get over here and help us kill THIS one!"

"I got ya!" He shouted, rushing over and slashing at the Emperor's right side while I attacked the left.

"GOOD NIGHT!" barked Akihiko before Polydeucus appeared and dropped one final Zio to finish off the Shadow. It spazumed in pain before evaporating.

Fuuka panted loudly as her Persona vanished. "Are there more of them...?"

"Don't worry, it's over." Akihiko said, putting his evoker away.

"Fuuka..." Natsuki looked up at her. "You..."

"A-Are you alright?" She asked, kneeling next to Natsuki.

"Yeah..."

Fuuka sighed. "Thank goodness..."

Then she collapsed to the ground. Natsuki started freaking out and sobbing over her.

"Where did those two Shadows come from?" Akihiko asked Mitsuru.

"From somewhere outside of Tartarus, just like before..."

"I see..."

"Um, what are we gonna do about Natsuki?" Yukari asked, looking down at the emotional wreck of a human being. "She saw the Dark Hour, and the Shadows..."

"Don't worry, she's not like us, so she won't remember any of it." Akihiko told her. "The good news is she didn't fall victum to the Shadows, even though she obviously heard their call. She should be safe from now on."

"But, that means she'll forget Fuuka saved her life, right?" Yukari frowned.

"Ya know, Yukari..." I said, looking at Natsuki. "I don't think it's gonna matter."

"Yes." Mitsuru stated, turning her attention to Natsuki as well. "I think she's learned her lesson."

* * *

Mitsuru and Akihiko left with Fuuka and Natsuki to get them both either home or to the hospital, I'm not entirely sure which. I'm honestly more interested in how Junpei did that fire sword thing.

"I dunno, man." He told me, frowning slightly. "It just kinda happened."

"Then how'd you do it again when you burninated that fat Empress Shadow?"

"I just thought about it and it worked."

_'I know how to do that.' _

You do?

_'Yeah. Just try focusing on having one of your Persona's skills flow through your body to your hand. That's sorta how I did the claw thing with you.'_

"Hmm..." I held up my hand, taking care to switch to Nigi Mitama in my head. I focused, then a small amount of green wind started spiraling around my palm. "Whoa, holy shit, it works!"

"Dude!" Junpei's eyes were wide.

"How are you doing that?" Yukari asked.

"You remember my claws from the Operation on the Monorail?" They nodded. "Well, the Spooky Voice who gave them to me told me to focus on shoving one of my Persona's skills down my arm."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah." I told him, switching to Oberon. The winds around my hand changed to a crackle of electricity. "Spooky Voice said that's basicly how he gave me the claws, though judging from the looks of this, it's weaker then actually summoning the Personas to do it..."

Yukari was watching my hand in awe. "That's amazing..."

"Hey, dude, check it out!" Junpei held up his hand, and the tips of his fingers were on fire.

"Nice." I whistled. "Better be careful with that, though."

"Yeah, yeah..." He looked over at me. "Hey, why do you look bummed out?"

"Well... I mean yes, this is cool and all, but I kinda liked having my supernatural abilities possibly limited to the Dark hour." I sighed. "Now we've got this skill channeling thing that probably works outside the Dark Hour, so now we're like bad Dragon Ball Z characters or something!"

* * *

Author Notes - So now Fuuka's been saved, Roy's had a conversation with the Reaper, and Junpei busted out Persona Skill Channeling because, honestly, dispite how completely rediculous it is in my opinion, it's still cool and it seems unfair to let Roy have those crazy claws of his(that will show up again soon) without giving everyone else something. Also, cookie to whoever guesses what the Spooky Voice in Roy's head is!


	12. Shadow Called Shade

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**espresso X cappuccino -** Really? Huh. I get confused, but meh. It's not like Roy actually knows Spanish or French anyways, so he doesn't know either. He was just guessing.

Anywho, ON WITH THE SHOW!

* * *

I was kinda worn out the next morning, but epic muzak of victory(Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Lemon Demon) helped with that. I spotted Yukari a bit ahead of me, so I slipped my headphones off and walked up next to her.

"Mornin' Yukari." I said. She looked over at me.

"Mornin'." She greeted back. "Hey, I was thinking..." You can think? News to me. "Do you think Mitsuru-senpai saved Fuuka because it was the right thing to do? Or was it just because she's a Persona-user and we need her...?"

I winced. "You want me to answer that honestly?" She nodded. "Honestly, I'd like to believe Mitsuru actually cares about what might have happened if we didn't rescue Fuuka, but I doubt that's really the case."

"You think so too?" Yukari frowned. "Well, whether or not she joins us is up to her... Sorry to bring this up out of the blue."

"It's cool." I shrugged.

* * *

I went to Tennis after school and, again, Kaz was gone. However, it turns out a few of the girls who I yelled at got convinced to come back sometime last week by Ms. Kanou, the teacher who's supposed to be keeping tabs on the Girls Team but never does.

"So what've I missed?" I asked Hamuko while Rio was watching a few of the other members practice. "Rio seems a bit off her game today."

"You noticed?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's like she's spacing out." I looked at Hamuko. "Did something happen?"

"Geez, you haven't been concentrating at all, Rio!" Our attention turned to a couple of girls who were talking to Rio.

"Huh?" Rio seemed startled. "S-Sorry..."

"We're not getting anything done like this." sighed a girl with short hair. "I mean, if you're not gonna act like your normal self, this might be the worst club at this school..."

"Look who's talking." snarked her glasses-wearing friend.

"C-C'mon, Don't fight!" Wow, Rio's really out of it.

"We're not fighting, you dope!" exclaimed the short haired girl. "Pay attention!" She sighed. "It's because of Kenji, isn't it?" Wait what "You haven't gotten over him."

"Yeah, she's right." Stated the one in glasses. "C'mon! Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? It's got to be better than moping around!"

"You mean... I should go tell him that I like him...?"

"WAIT, WHAT?" I shouted, causing them all to turn towards me. "Rio, you like Kenji? Seriously?"

"Hey, don't be mean, Roy!" The girls on the team don't bother with honorifics around me.

"I'm not being mean!" I said defencively. "I'm just surprised is all!"

"I..." We all looked at Rio. "I feel like I'm stuck in one place... And I can't move an inch..."

"Hey, hey, take it easy." I put a hand on her shoulder. She kept muttering to herself, then she finally she looked up at us.

"I'm... gonna go tell him."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Rio..." I took a step to put myself between Rio and the path back to the school. "Just running up to him and blurting out something like that isn't going to do much more then confuse the living hell out of the guy."

"But..."

"No, see, here's what you need to do." I let go of her. "You've got to start a casual conversation with him sometime, then try steering it towards the subject. In lieu of that, just cut to the chase. You're less likely to get your heart broken that way."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about, Roy."

I looked back at Hamuko. "I've seen it happen a few times back home. Trust me on this." I turned back to Rio. "Think you can pull it off?"

"Yeah..." She nodded confidently. "I think I can."

**CRASH**

Kickass.

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana.'_

"Alright." I took a step away from the girls. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find Kaz and put him in a headlock for being an idiot."

* * *

I found Kaz at the Shoe Lockers with his Cellphone out.

"OI, KAZ." I shouted, causing him to fumble with his phone before he turned around.

"Oh, uh, hey Roy..." He stammered. "I was just about to send Yuko a message to get you to meet me at Iwatodai Station..."

"So how's your leg?" I asked, cutting to the chase. Kaz winced. "Kaz..."

"Alright, alright!" That's what I thought. "I got the results back... Apparently, my hamstring is getting ripped apart... The doctor said if I keep this up... I won't be able to walk anymore..." His face contorted into a snarl. "He said I put too much strain on it durring practice. How Pathetic..." He sighed. "Well, I just want to win..."

"Only thing you're going to win at the rate your going is a wheelchair!" I snapped.

"You don't understand, Roy!" He snapped back. "Every minute, every second is Critical! I don't have time to waste!" his expression fell again. "I promised to be the numer one athelet in Japan..."

"Wait, what?"

Kaz sighed. "My nephew got into an accident and his leg got messed up. He can't walk right now, but if he goes through rehab, he might be able to recover! He says it hurts too much, though, so he doesn't want to do it... He's only five." I winced. "There are so many things he's never done... So I made a deal with him that- don't laugh, man- if I become number one in Japan, he'll go through with rehab." A determined fire sparked in Kaz's eyes. "So I have to win this meet to make it to nationals."

"The meet is in like what, August, right?" Kaz's expression changed to confusion. "Well, why not get your leg patched up NOW? You're still the best player on the team, man. You work yourself way to hard anyways, so taking a break can't be that bad." Kaz glared at me. "Well, would you rather have to explain to your nephew that you'll have to go through rehab yourself so you can keep your promise, or that you'll never be able to keep your promise because you permanently crippled yourself?"

He looked at me in silence.

"So? Which would you prefer?"

He tilted his head down and sighed, then looked back up at me. "I'd rather tell him I'll be able to keep my promise."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana.'_

"See, that's what I thought." I grinned. "And hey, you can still come to practice and work on your swings. Sure, your footwork might get a bit rusty, but it's better then nothing, right?"

"Yeah." Kaz grinned as well. "You're right."

* * *

I offered to help Kaz limp home, but he said he'd be fine. I started back to the dorm and, to my surprise, I bumped into Ms. Toriumi coming out of a Video Store near Port Island Station.

"Hi Toriumi-sensei!" I called out. Might as well strike up a nice conversation with my homeroom teacher. She always struck me as a nice person.

"Oh, Roy-kun..." She seemed surprised to see me. "What're you doing here?"

"I was heading back to my dorm after Tennis practice." I replied, then I looked at what she was holding. "Renting a few movies?"

"Mmhm." She said. "Trying to take my mind off of work."

"Mind if I ask why?"

Toriumi looked at me skeptically, but then shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Just don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Sure." I agreed, and we started walking towards the station. "So what's going on?"

"One of the other teachers has been grating on my nerves lately." She said in an annoyed tone. "We used to be good friends for a while, but these days... ugh..."

I just now noticed she's Hermit Arcana. Switching to Naga. Incidental side note, I've got room in my head for ten Personas these days. "What'd they do?"

"Well..." She looked at me. "She came to me asking for advice, but she just started bragging about stuff." Ms. Toriumi scowled. "A student asked her out and a guy she doesn't like proposed to her and she acted like it's nothing! UGH!" She shuddered angrily. "I hate people like that! Just giving puppy-dog eyes and guys bend to her will! She even stuffs her bra!"

I stopped in my tracks. "What."

Ms. Toriumi clamped her hand over her mouth for a moment, then looked at me with narrow eyes and uncovered her lips. "Roy-kun, you know too much..."

"I swear I won't tell anyone!" I said quickly. "Just give me like, a day or some other big shocking revelation and I'll forget I know it!"

"Good." She relaxed her glare slightly, then looked ahead and recoiled slightly in surprise. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."

"What?" I looked in the direction she was facing and saw Ms. Kanou making out with some guy. I started to say something, then I saw Kenji looking in the same direction, his eyes wide. "Hey, is that Kenji over there?"

Ms. Toriumi turned to look in time to see Kenji step back, then run off in a different direction. I think he was crying.

"What's the matter with him?" She asked me.

"Kenji's weird." I told her. "He's got a thing for women old enough to be his mother. Judging from his reaction, he specificly had a thing for Kanou-sensei. Guess that makes her the coworker you where talking about, then?"

Ms. Toriumi nodded grimly. "Yeah."

"Honestly? I don't blame you for being frustrated with her." I shrugged as we continued walking to the train, ignoring Ms. Kanou. "Kanou-sensei hasn't been keeping track of the girls tennis team like she's supposed to. From what Hamuko's told me, she's only shown up twice."

"I heard Mr. Yamato mention that." He's the coach for the guy's team. "It's shameful."

"Very." I agreed.

"You know, talking to you reminds me of this friend of mine..." Mused Ms. Toriumi as we got on the train to the mainland. "Talking with him is the highlight of my days off."

**CRASH**

Wait what

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana.'_

WHAT

_'Wow, I did NOT see that coming.'_

Me either. Though it certainly explains why Maya always seemed familiar.

* * *

I parted ways with Ms. Toriumi at the station and headed for the dorm. I really don't want to think about what I've learned today. When I got back to the dorm, Yukari informed me that Mitsuru and Akihiko left like ten minutes before I got back to go check on Fuuka at the Hospital. Personally, I have to go against Mitsuru's 'No Tartarus without me or Akihiko' rule or else the Reaper is going to make killing me his top priority. So I went up to my room and put on my Tartarus gear, then told Yukari I was going to be out late before I headed off.

I went to the mall first because I want to see what else I can get Tanaka to be stupid enough to say around me.

"My schedule is so packed I don't even have time to breathe." He told me once we started talking. "I don't usually deal with your average joe, you know." He grinned. "You should be glad you're such a handsome boy." Oh good god... "Alright, let's add a new word to our Vocabulary today! Repeat after me! 'Placebo'! The stress is on the middle syllable."

"I have a better one for us." I replied, with a death glare and a big grin on my face. "How about 'Extortion'?"

Tanaka winced slightly, but he tried to hide it behind a grin. "I love those smoldering eyes of yours! You'll never succeed in life without skepticism." He cleared his throat. "A placebo is a-"

"I know what a placebo is." I said, dropping my grin. "It's a pill that does exactly nothing except ease a person's mind."

"Precisely!" He grinned wider. "Eliminate those unsightly lovehandles without lifting a finer! It's a miracle breakthrough that will make you feel fabulous! Enjoy a relaxing drive while taking in the beautiful scenery! These are part of our unique line of products."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that even legal?"

"Oh yes, of course." Tanaka stated confidently. "I'm free to sell them as I please!"

"And you're telling this to the guy who's got three tape recorders in his pockets recording this conversation?"

His expression fell slightly. Apparently he forgot. And this idiot scams millions of people out of money?

"We may not be providing tangible benefits, but we do provide peace of mind." He stated firmly, regaining his composure. "People will pay handsomely for that, you know. Take emergency supplies, for example. People feel safe just because they have them, but it's merely a false sense of security." Tanaka re-adjusted his tie. "That's it for today's lesson. You can pay me back when you make your first million."

**CRASH**

_'Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana.'_

"Have you been keeping your promise? You didn't tell anyone, did you?" He leveled a glare at me. "If you go back on your word, I'll upload your picture to an internet dating site for former prison inmates!"

"Problem with that; You only know my face." I told him. "You don't know my name, age, or where I live." I smirked. "Kinda hard to carry out threats like that when you know next to nothing about someone, don't cha' think?"

Tanaka's right eye twitched slightly. "You must think you're pretty clever, huh kid?"

"More then clever." I stated as I started walking off. "I'm a mad genius."

* * *

I headed to the school from the mall, arriving in time for the Dark Hour. I watched the school rise and contort into Tartarus, then hopped the gate and went inside. I waited around in the lobby for about ten minutes before the Reaper finally appeared.

**'You came.'**

"Well yeah." I told him. "You said you were gonna kill me if I didn't."

The Reaper seemed to chuckle. **'Indeed I would have.'**

"So, why'd you ask me to come back?"

**'I wish to speak to your Shadow.'**

I raised an eyebrow. "My what?"

_'He means me.'_

"Huh?"

_'I'll explain in a minute. So, what'd you want to know, Reaper?'_

**'If you are truely a part of this human, why do you have demonic power?'**

_'I do? I never noticed. I just though that's how I was.'_

"Then what the hell does that make me?" I asked.

**'I do not know.'** Stated the Reaper. **'Perhaps the beings who dwell beyond the blue door can assist you.'**

I looked over at the door to the Velvet Room, then back at the Reaper. "You can see it?"

**'Indeed.'**

"Huh." I rubbed my chin. "How do you know about the people on the other side?"

**'You just told me.'**

I laughed. "Clever."

**'Why thank you.'** The Reaper chuckled smugly.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

**'What is it?'**

"You're not angry with me and my pals running around this place killing Shadows, are you?"

**'No.' **He said. **'It does not bother me. My duty is to keep the Shadows in check, and your group frequently makes my work somewhat easier.'**

"Then why were you chasing us around a few times?"

**'I was bored.'**

I couldn't help but snicker. "I see... Well, is there anything else you wanted to know, or can I go talk to the blue door people now?"

**'You have adequitely answered my questions, human.'** The Reaper stated, floating up to the top of the stairs. **'Farewell.'**

"Later Days, Reaper." I saluted him as he went through the door in the large clock, then darted into the Velvet Room.

"IGOR!" I shouted, walking over to the table and slamming my hands down on it. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH ME?"

"Calm down, my young friend." Igor said, motioning to the chair I usually sit in. "Please, sit down."

I grunted, then sat down as asked.

"It seems you have made some startling revelations from your interaction with the Reaper." Said the master of the Velvet Room, his hands folded under his chin. "But first, I think it is best we begin with answering your question reguarding the voice you heard durring the battle with the Priestess."

He waved his hand, then a black door appeared to my left. The handle shifted, then the door swung inwards as someone stepped out. My eyes widened in confusion.

"Yo." Greeted what looked very much like my doppleganger, save for the fact his apparance made him look like a pallette swap of myself. He wore the same outfit I did, except his jacket was black with silver trim, his shirt was maroon, his belt was silver, his pants are a light grey, his boots are mainly maroon with black bits, his hat was maroon with a black band and the cards tucked into it are in the reverse order of mine- the black joker is in front of the red joker. He also had mainly grey hair with red in it, unlike my prodominatnely red hair with grey in it, and bright yellow eyes. "How's it going?"

"Who the hell is he?" I asked, looking at Igor.

"I'm you." Said my duplicate. "Well, your Shadow anyways."

"I don't follow..."

"Allow me to explain." Igor said. "A Sha-"

"Actually, let me give him the abridged version so that way he can actually understand it." commented my 'Shadow', cutting Igor off. "Basicly I'm the stuff you reject about yourself given form."

"Does that mean I have to accept you or you'll turn into a giant monster and kill me or something?"

"Nah, you already accept me." he told me. "If you didn't, I'd have popped up and started blabbing out your deep, dark secrets."

"Then what's your deal?"

"I believe I can answer that question for you." Elizabeth stated. "When a human accepts their Shadow, the Shadow becomes a Persona. However, it appears that your Persona and Shadow are independant of either other, otherwise he would take the form of Orpheus."

"Oh, so that's what's up with me?" He asked. "Huh... but what was the Reaper talking about wh-"

"The power of the Wild Card." Igor explained, cutting off my Shadow. "Because your Shadow presumably managed to tap into your Wild Card abilities, thus enabling it to manifest itself seperately from your Persona, it bears a resemblence to Hito-Shura, the Demi-Fiend."

"Who's Hito-Shura?"

"A human who was granted the powers of a demon." stated the master of the Velvet Room. "The Wild Card allows you to call forth the power of the collective human unconciousness in the form of multiple Persona while still retaining a Persona unique to yourself."

I raised an eyebrow. "So technically the other Personas I'm weilding are formed from the subconcious beliefs of people all over the world?"

"Precisely."

"Huh. Interesting. But why does this make Shadow-Me resemble Hito-Shura?"

"The majority of the more powerful Personae you will be able to weild are based on deities and powerful demons."

"Ah." I nodded. "But then what was the deal with the claws?"

"A trick I made up on the spot." Said my shadow, morphing his right hand into the claw in question. "I might be able to make up new ones with the Wild Card as you get stronger."

I grinned. "Kickass. By the way, you got a name?"

My shadow's hand returned to normal, then he crossed his arms and appeared to be thinking. "No, actually, I don't."

"Then Imma call you Shade because I can."

Shade shrugged. "Works for me."

* * *

I left the Velvet Room and headed out of Tartarus, walking back to the dorm durring the Dark Hour. It ended just after I got back, and I went up to my room and went to bed.

I was walking to school with Shade talking in my head when I met with Mitsuru at the school gate.

"Good morning." She said. "You might like to know Yamagishi and Moriyama are healing up well."

"Good to know." I replied. "What's next?"

"We'll need to invite Yamagishi to the dorm and explain waht happened." Mitsuru stated. "We could definately use her help."

"Yeah." I agreed. "By the way, did Yukari mention that Channeling thing Junpei 'n me figured out to you and Akihiko?"

"Are you referring to how Iori set his weapon ablaze durring the battle with the Shadows?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"No, she did not."

"In that case, I'll go over it with everyone when we're all gathered and talking with Fuuka." I said. "This way I don't have to repeat myself."

"Very well."

* * *

Nothing much else happened today. Well, actually I hung out with Andre(Bebe, for those of you not in the loop) and Hamuko at fashion club. We opted to stop by the Sweet Shop at the Iwatodai Strip mall once we were done for the day and we had a pretty good time. Plus, ya know, Social Link boostage.

I'm actually curious if I'll be able to Social Link Hamuko at some point because I don't have a Fortune Arcana Link yet, but meh.

Akihiko and Mitsuru where at the hospital again that night, so no Tartarus. Thursday was boring, but I got a message from Akihiko after class to stop by the command room when I got back to the Dorm so we can have the big group discussion with Fuuka. I passed the info on to Yukari and Junpei, then went to Tennis practice. No link boosting, though, because Rio was out sick that day and Kaz didn't show at all.

Got back to the dorm, dropped my stuff off, then headed up to the Command Room to meet up with everyone.

"You're Fuuka Yamagishi, right?" asked Sketchtsuki. She stood up quickly.

"Y-Yes."

_'Nervous girl, isn't she?'_

Kinda.

Sketchtsuki chuckled. "Relax, there's no need to be nervous." He smiled. "Why don't you have a seat."

Fuuka bowed, then sat back down.

"Everyone, you did an excellent job uncovering the truth." Continued Sketchtsuki. "I also wanted to let you know the three girls have all regained conciousness."

Fuuka sighed. "What a relief..."

"From what I understand, they each came to school around midnight and waited for the security guard to leave. They were then attacked by Shadows near the gate as the Dark Hour begna." Stated the chairman. "However, the facts became twisted because of rumors concerning a ghost story."

"I knew right from the beginning that it wasn't a ghost." Yukari boasted smugly.

Ugh, I want to slap her SO MUCH RIGHT NOW.

_'You and me both.'_

Fuuka gave a dejected sigh. "It's all my fault..."

"Are you kidding?" asked Yukari. "You were the victum!"

"But..." Fuuka frowned. "I made so many people worry..."

"Hey, don't sweat it." I said with a smirk. "Besides, if you weren't there we'd have probably gotten the crap beaten out of us."

"Indeed." Mitsuru stood up and looked at Fuuka. "We could have lost that fight if you weren't there. You saved our lives, you should feel good about yourself." She smiled. "You have a special power that you can use to help others."

"A special power...?" Fuuka repeated.

"We call it 'Persona.' You would be a tremendous help to us." Mitsuru looked straight into the younger girls eyes. "Will you lend us your strength?"

"Are you... asking me to join you...?" Mitsuru nodded. "Mitsuru-senpai..." Fuuka looked at Akihiko and he nodded as well.

"You know, we're not trying to pressure you, so if yo-"

"I'll do it." Fuuka suddenly stood up. "I'll help you!"

I don't think Yukari approves. "A-Are you su-"

"Yukari, shut it." I stood up, then got down on one knee so I was eye-level with Fuuka. "Fuuka, please look me in the eyes."

"Um... okay..." She replied, her eyes locking with mine.

"I'm going to ask you again." I said, keeping my eyes focused on hers. "Are you SURE you want to help us?"

Fuuka's expression hardened slightly, and she nodded, still keeping her eyes on me. "Yes, I am."

"Okay then." I said, moving back into my seat. "By the way, you know you'll have to move into the dorm now, right?"

"That's fine." Fuuka replied. "I'd rather live here than at home anyway..."

Yukari was completely dumbfounded by all this. Good, maybe she'll shut up.

"We really appreciate this." Mitsuru said, smiling agian. "We'll have the school talk to your parents to resolve any issues."

"Thank you."

"Wait a minute, aren't we dragging her into this a bit fast?"

_'GOD DAMN IT YUKARI!'_

I groaned in exasperation and slapped my right hand over my face.

"Um, it's okay..." said Fuuka nervously. "Really..."

Ikutsuki cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Now then... Those special Shadows showed up again." he began. "We still don't know where they're coming from, but Akihiko and Roy are right about one thing; Their appearances seem to coincide with the full moon. We'll take that into consideration for now."

"So, they're kinda like werewolves then, huh?"

"Pretty much, Junpei." I told him.

"It's a big advantage for us to know when to expect them." Akihiko commented with a grin. "Now, on the day of the fight, we'll be ready to get in the ring."

"Speaking of fights..." I said, clapping my hands together. "Junpei and me figured something out durring that battle."

"Oh?" Sketchtsuki was surprised. "And what might that be?"

I held up my hand, switching my Persona to Oberon and creating a crackle of electricity around it. "It's possible for Persona users to channel their persona abilities through their bodies. Weaker then a direct summoning, naturally, but apparently it works outside the Dark Hour."

Akihiko, Mitsuru, Fuuka, and Sketchtsuki were in awe of the lightning storm around my hand.

"And you know that voice in my head I mentioned that gave me those claws durring the Monorail Operation?" I asked. Everyone recovered, and all but Fuuka nodded. "Well he's actually a Persona, so I can probably do the claw thing whenever I want once I get the hang of channeling."

"Dude, think you can show me how to do that?" Junpei asked exitedly.

"I don't think it's possible, but you could try to do something similar with Fire or Physical skills." I told him. "Sorry man. If I knew how to share this, I'd do it."

"Aw man..." He sighed, then shrugged. "Oh well, it's cool. I got my own style anyways!"

* * *

Author Note- Short chapter is kinda short. Not much to say except that working out the whole thing with Roy's Shadow has burnt a small hole in my brain so it's going to be a little while before I get Chapter 13 up while I numb my brain with Video Games. Also Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne refrence! I've never actually played it myself, but I figure'd I may as well make a refrence to the SMT franchise somehow, if only as a small Shout Out.


	13. Fear the Squee

Pre-chapter Review Answer corner GO!

**DropletofSour- **HOLY CRAP YOU REVIEWED MY STORY AND LIKE IT. *ahem* Sorry. Anywho, thanks man! Your work is freaking epic!

NOW ON WITH THE CHAPTAR!

* * *

Went to bed early after last night, mainly because I felt like it. I unfortunetly bumped into Yukari on the train the next morning. Seriously, how does this keep happening? I KNOW we leave from the same place and probably take similar routes, how do we not meet up like this constantly? It boggles my mind almost.

"Mornin'." She said with a half-hearted smile. "Hey, Roy... What do you think about Fuuka?"

"Define 'think about Fuuka', then I'll answer." I told her flatly.

"Sorry." She winced. "I mean do you think she was kind of forced into joining us?"

"No."

"What?" Yukari looked at me increadulously. "But, Mitsuru-senpai-"

"Let me explain." I said, cutting her off. "I'm no psychology major or anything like that, but what I know is that Fuuka was dead-set on her choise to join us once we started explaining things. Granted, I do think Mitsuru was pretty quick to say 'Hey, come join our after-school demon-slaying club! We've got better cookies then the dark side of the force does!', but she chose it herself."

"And how do you know that?"

"Her eyes." I pointed at my own. "It's part of why I had her look into mine durring the meeting last night. The eyes are the window to the soul, and there wasn't even an atom of hesitation in hers when I asked her if she really wanted to join us."

Yukari gave me a skeptical look, causing me to sigh.

"Believe whatever you want, Yukari, but I'm sure about this." I said firmly, slipping my headphones back on for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Hung out at the student council after school, but Hidetoshi was takin' it easy on the whole accusin' thing today so there was no link boosting. Pretty sure I heard him griping under his breath about something, though, so maybe the link will boost next time.

To my surprise, I bumped into Fuuka on the way out of school.

"Oh, hello Roy-san."

"Hey Fuuka." Pretty sure somebody went over my policy on honorifics with her, or she just figured it out. "So, how bad was it?"

She gave me a confused look. "How bad was what?"

"The barrage of questions from your classmates about what the hell you've been 'sick' with for nearly two weeks."

"Oh, that..." Fuuka looked away for a second. "It wasn't too bad. Most were just glad to see me back."

"Good to hear." I smirked. "You see Natsuki today?"

She nodded, a happy smile on her face. "Mmhm."

"From that grin of yours, I take it that, while not remembering how you saved her from two giant brain eating monsters, she was nice to you?"

Fuuka nodded again. "She told me that if I needed someone to talk to, I could go see her."

"That's great!" My smirk turned into a grin. "And hey, if ya need something, just come and let me know."

"Really?" She seemed surprised. "A-Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" I replied. "I defy the stereotype that Americans are stuck up jerks, and hey, if you're gonna be in SEES with us, it's probably my job as Field Leader to keep track of how everyone's doing, and even if it's not I'll do it anyways!" I then rubbed my chin. "Speaking of which, I should talk to Akihiko sometime..."

Fuuka giggled a little. "You seem like a caring person."

"Thankies." I said in English before going back to Japanese. "But yeah, if you ever need anything, lemme know and I'll help ya out."

"I will." She smiled at me.

**CRASH**

_'HOLY MOOD WHIPLASH, BATMAN' _

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Preistess Arcana._

Oh hey, neat! Another one with a SEES member! YAY BEING REWARDED FOR BEING A GOOD FRIEND!

...

Wait this probably means I'm going to get one with Yukari...

_'Oh god, that one's going to suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck...' _

Like you wouldn't believe, man. Like you wouldn't believe.

* * *

Parted ways with Fuuka after we got to the Iwatodai Station and I headed to the Shrine to see if Maiko was hanging around. I smirked to myself when I saw her sitting on the swing sadly.

"Hey, Maiko-chan!" She gets honorifics because she's adorable. I waved at her as I walked over. "Happy Late Birthday!"

I pulled the coin card I kept her gift in, flicking my wrist as I did so that way it looked like I pulled it out of thin air and morphed the card. It was a sketch I made of the two of us with her trying on my hat.

"Oh wow!" She looked at the sketch in awe. "You're really good at drawing!"

"Thankies." I smirked. "Got something else for you as well." I flicked my wrist again and a replica of my hat appeared. It's actually an armored version Elizabeth gave me with the jacket, but it's still light and feels like cloth, just ludicrously hard to damage. I popped the hat down on her head and she squealed with glee.

"Thanks, Hat-kun!" Maiko beamed at me. "I'm happy you remembered!"

"Did your parents remember as well?"

She nodded. "Mmhm! They were smiling and everything! I got tons of presents and ate a bunch of cake!" her face fell slightly. "We haven't really eaten together as a family for a while... we used to eat together every night..." She looked up at me. "How come Mom and Dad don't get along anymore?"

I shrugged. "Maybe you should ask them."

"Yeah! If I can get rid of the reason, everything'll be fine, right?" She smiled. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get my parents back together! You'll do waht you can to help, right?"

"Heck yeah." I smirked.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

"All right! I'm gonna ask them." Maiko hopped off the swing, then carefully tucked the picture I gave her into her backpack. "So, maybe we can play some other time, okay?"

"Sure thing." I told her. "Want me to bring some friends of mine along?"

"Uh-huh!" She nodded. "That way we can all play together and have lots of fun!" She started off, waving back at me. "Bye bye, Hat-kun!"

* * *

I got back to the dorm in a good mood because of that. Junpei seemed to notice.

"You look happy." He commented. "You win a million yen or somethin'?"

"Nah. I saw Maiko-chan today." I replied. "Gave her my extra hat as a late birthday present."

"Who's Maiko-chan?" Asked Akihiko, looking up at me from the boxing gloves he was polishing.

"Little girl who hangs out at Naganaki Shrine." Junpei told him. "She's got some issues at home and Roy's been cheering her up after school sometimes."

"Really?" I nodded at the question. "Heh. That's a nice thing to do."

"I know." I said. "Cheering her up made my day today." I looked around. "Where's Yukari and Mitsuru?"

"They're gettin' Fuuka's room ready on the third floor." reported Junpei. "No guys allowed."

"Eh." I shrugged. "No big deal. When's Fuuka moving in?"

"Tomorrow."

"Cool." I headed towards the stairs. "Gonna drop my stuff in my room then head out for a bit."

_'More blackmailing Tanaka?' _

Hell yeah more blackmailing Tanaka.

_'Awesome.' _

* * *

"Today, I'll tell you a funny story..." Tanaka began as soon as I showed up at the mall. I like how this idiot seems to think I actually care about his advice. "You know, these days, even a first grader knows how to buy stocks online." He gave me a skeptical look. "How about you? Are you interested in stock trading?"

"Stocks are a gamble." I told him. "A very high stakes gamble. One slip can completely break the bank. I don't gamble."

"What a pity..." he sighed. "The stock market is the future of investment." He gave me a pointed look. "Or, are you just hedging your bets?"

"No, I said I don't gamble and I ment it." I told him. "I do, however, take peoples money by beating them at card games. Trust me on that, I've been banned from three casinos in Las Vegas back home in America for winning to much."

"Seriously?" Tanaka looked at me in surprise. "But you're in high school!"

"When you look the way I do at age fourteen and get a fake ID that says your twenty, people believe it." I smirked. "That was the best birthday I've ever had." I sighed contently and shook my head. "Anyways, you were telling me a funny story?"

"Ah, yes.' He cleared his throat. "My company just went public, you see. Seeing as our sales have been skyrocketing, we decided to sell shares, and guess what? The number of shareholders skyrocketed too! But this is the funny part; The majority of our shareholders are also our customers!"

I laughed. "Seriously?"

Tanaka nodded with a big smirk on his face. "They keep buying our products, so of course the stock will rise! I'm glad you appreciate the irony." He sized me up. "I'm thinking of offering a job, should you come up with some stories of your own."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

"I've got plenty of stories, man." I told him. "Just don't feel like sharing them all."

"I see." Tanaka rubbed his chin, then glared at me. "Have you been keeping your promise? You didn't tell anyone, did you?" He pointed accusingly at me just like last time. "If you go back on your word, I'll find out where you live and ring the doorbell every night at midnight!"

I burst out laughing. Shade did as well, except inside my head.

"What's so funny?"

"Man, I would pay money if you actually did that!" I told him as I stopped laughing, thenwalked past him towards the exit of the mall. "Later Days, Tanaka!"

* * *

I actually expected Tanaka to follow me back to the dorm, but he didn't.

_'I was looking forward to seeing if we could move his coffin somewhere else just to screw with the guy.' _

I know, that would've been hilarious, huh? Guess that makes it a Missed Moment of Funny.

_'Indeed it does.' _

_

* * *

_

"You've prevailed yet agian."

"Hey kid." I greeted with a yawn as I walked into my room. "And yeah, I guess I did."

"But, it's funny..." He smiled from his seat on my bed. "It doesn't seem so certain, considering the vast potential within you. As a matter of fact, your power seems to have changed quite a bit."

"I suppose." My brain is not fully awake enough right now for me to totally comprehend him or care all that much. I looked over at the kid as I put my pajamas on and he seemed nervous. "What's the matter?"

"Hm?" He looked at me. Must have snapped him out of his thoughts. "Oh, nothing..." He frowned slightly. "Hey, if you don't mind, can I be your friend?" He tilted his head. "I'm very curious about you... is that okay?"

"Fine by me." I yawned, crawling into bed. "You got a name?"

"My name is..." He seemed to think for a moment. "Pharos. You may call me that if you wish."

"Cool." I curled up under my blanket slightly.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana. _

Yeah, that's totally not ominus and increadably creepy.

"It's getting late, so I'll go now." I think he got off my bed. "I'm already looking forward to our next meeting."

"Cool..." I sighed as I zonked out.

* * *

Next morning I crossed paths with Mitsuru at the school gate. Seriously, HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?

"Good Morning, Fortune. Yamagishi will be living with us as of today." She informed me. "And starting tonight, she'll be providing us with support durring battle, so now I can rejoin the front line."

"Oh hell yes." I grinned. "I've honestly been wanting to see how good you are in a fight."

"Is that so?" Her visible eyebrow raised slightly and her lips curled into a small smile. "Well, you can depend on me. I may be a bit out of practice, but I will soon return to my prior form."

"Can't wait to see that."

_'Shit's gonna get WRECKED.' _

Hells yeah.

* * *

Intending to keep my word to Maiko about bringing friends to hang out, I rounded up Chihiro, Junpei, and surprisingly Hidetoshi tag along with me to the shrine.

"It's a very thoughtful thing to do, Roy-san." Chihiro said as we approached the srhine.

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "I'm a nice guy." I looked at Hide. "By the way, any luck with that smoker?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing yet. I'm still working on a list of suspects."

"You're not gonna accuse me again, are you?" Junpei asked.

"No, Roy vouged for you."

"Really?" He turned to me. "Thanks man."

"No problem." I replied as we headed up the stairs. The first thing I noticed is was Maiko sitting on a bench, sobbing. "Maiko-chan?"

She looked up. Oh god, her eyes are red and puffy... "Oh, h-hello..." She sniffled. "M-My dad, he..." She broke down into louder sobs. I immediately ran over to her, kneeling down infront of her as I set my bag down.

"What happened, Maiko-chan?" I asked as I heard everyone else rush over after me.

She kept sniffling and crying. "Dad, he..."

"What'd he do?"

"He..." the little girl launched out of her seat and latched onto me like I was the only thing keeping her from drowning in the ocean. "He hit me!"

"WHAT?" yelled everyone behind me in unison as Maiko sobbed into my shoulder.

"T-That's terrible!" Stammered Chihiro.

"Why would Dad do that?" cried the little girl into my shirt. "Why?" She let go of me and backed off slightly. "All I did was say I wanted to know the real reason they were getting a divorce... they told me I was too young to even understand it."

I heard Junpei cruse under his breath and Hidetoshi inhale sharply. Chihiro was kneeling next to me, her left hand covering her mouth.

"I... I kept asking, but then Dad got angry and... and he..." Maiko sniffled loudly, tearing up again. "Th-Then Mom said since I was so annoying, that it was my fault..." The tears started rolling down her face. "I'm not sure they love me anymore... I bet they wouldn't care if I wasn't even here at all!"

I put a hand on Maiko's shoulder. "Don't say that. It's not true, it will never BE true, and if anyone tells you it is, they are WRONG."

She whiped the tears off her face, then looked at me. She was still wearing the hat I gave her, and it was slightly lopsided on her head. "Are you... sure? But then, why are they so mad?"

I sighed heavily. "I don't know."

I heard footsteps, then I heard a frustrated kick at the ground. Junpei's not liking this situation.

"What if..." Maiko seemed like she had an idea. "What if I ran away from home...?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Maiko-chan..." Said Chihiro.

"But, I want to find out how they really feel about me." pouted the little girl. "If they love me, then they'd try to look for me, right?"

"She does have a point." Stated Hidetsohi, but I could tell he didn't like the idea. By the way, Shade's flipping his shit with rage inside my head right now, but thankfully he moved to the back or something so it's not like he's screaming death metal right next to my center of focus.

"You'll keep it a secret, okay?" She looked up at me. "You won't tell my Mom and Dad?"

I put a finger to my lips as if thinking for a moment, then nodded. "I won't. Now c'mon, let's play for a little while."

Maiko smiled and nodded. "Okay!"

**CRASH **

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

* * *

I introduced Maiko to everyone and we played around for a little while. When Maiko finally had to leave, I told her that if she really wanted to try running away to come and see me. She agreed, then left. When she was gone, I shouted in frustration and slammed my arm against the wall behind the bench she was sitting on when we got there.

"That poor little girl..." Chihiro said sadly. "Going home to something like that..."

"It's not right." Hidetoshi spat angrily. "What kind of parents blame their children for their problems?"

"Bad ones." Junpei snarled. "Really bad ones."

"Yeah." I agreed, rubbing my arm.

"But what can we do?" asked Chihiro, the rest of us turning to face her. "I mean, I don't think it's right for her to just run away from home!"

"I don't either, but some people need a heavy hand." I stated firmly. "I'll keep track of Maiko if she does decide to go through with it. If she does, I'll give you all a call, okay?"

"Sure." Junpei's expression hardened.

"Okay!" said Chihiro, nodding firmly.

"Alright." Hidetoshi nodded as well.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana._

Awright.

* * *

I parted ways with everyone except Junpei and went back to the dorm. When I got back, Elizabeth called to say another path opened up in Tartarus. Fuuka was there and she told me that I should talk to her when I wanted to head to Tartarus. Due to what happened, though, I was too pissed off to want to kill anything so I just went to my room and went to bed.

Next day was Sunday, and I stayed in and chatted with Maya. No link boosting, but I felt better after we vented a little frustration at each other. She was equally outraged about the deal with Maiko when I told her about it. Nice to see my Homeroom Teacher has a good moral compass.

I walked to school with Yukari the next morning, but completely tuned her out the whole trip. I think she got the message that I didn't wanna talk that morning when I glared death at her. At about lunchtime I remembered I planned on talking to Akihiko, so I went looking for him after school.

I found him hanging around the front gate

"Hey, Akihiko!" I called out as I walked over.

"Hey Roy." he greeted back. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted to talk." I said, relaxing my posture.

"What abo-"

"LOOK!" cried out a girl's voice, cutting off Akihiko. "There he is!"

_'Oh hell, it's the Sanada fangirl horde...' _

Ah shit, I need to get him out of here, and fa-

"He's over there with Akihiko-senpai!"

Wait **what? **

I looked over and a small troope of girls was moving towards us from the front of the school.

"ROY-KUN! AKIHIKO-SENPAI!" called out one of them "WAIT FOR US!"

_**OH GOD NO**_

* * *

Author Notes- Oh god yes, Roy. FEAR THE HORDE. Anywho, Roy's started the Priestess link, stuffs getting bad with Maiko, and we find out about a hilarious Noodle Incident Roy had. I've actually been wanting to use that joke somewhere in this story ever sense I started writing. Also, shorter chapter is shorter then the last chapter because I REALLY wanted to end this one at that right there. Because I'm evil. mwehehehehe.


	14. Wait WHAT?

Pre-chapter Author Note thingies GO!

I'd like to thank **DropletofSour** for helping me with a few scenes in this. Seriously dude, you are freaking _AWESOME. _

And for refrence, the last three words at the end of the previous chapter are supposed to be both Roy and Shade freaking out in unison. NOW ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

**"EJECT! EJECT!"** I shouted, grabbing Akihiko's shoulder and charging out past the school gates dragging him along with me.

"WAIT FOR US!" clamoured the horde again.

_**"FASTER!"**_ I channeled a Sukukaja into Akihiko and another into myself.

"Roy, what are you doing?" He asked, stumbling along behind me because I was still dragging him.

"Escaping the horde!" I told him, pointing my thumb over my shoulder while still running. "That a problem?"

"No." He replied instantly. "Just warn me next time, okay?"

"Deal." I said, letting go. I peeked back over my shoulder and the horde was a long ways behind us. "Okay, we're almost in the clear. Wanna hit Hagakure? I'm gettin' hungry."

"Sure." He agreed, then we rounded a corner and started towards the station.

_'Perhaps you should see if Kurosawa sells smoke bombs so you can evade the horde more easily next time.'_

Nah, I'll save that for escaping the wrath of two pissed off women.

* * *

"Man, those girls are a pain..." Akihiko griped as we entered Hagakure. "I'm surprised they came after you as well."

"You and me both, Akihiko." I said, sitting down at the counter next to him.

"Hey, you okay with the special?"

I grinned. "Hell yes I'm okay with the special."

"Alright." Akihiko turned back to the chef. "Two extra-large specials, please."

"Extra large?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh hell yes."

He laughed slightly. "That's the spirit."

"Hey, gotta keep myself fed." I folded my arms. "Can't pass out durring official SEES buisness, now can I?"

"You've got that right." agreed Akihiko. "Physical strength is everything, and you're our secret weapon out there. But even your skills won't be worth a damn if you get exhausted easily."

I nodded in agreement as our massive bowls of ramen arrive. Pfft, please, I can eat three of these no problem.

* * *

Okay I take that back. I can eat two of those, tops.

"Wow, you destroied that bowl..." Akihiko noted in surprise. "You up for more?"

I stiffled a small burp. "I'd say I'm about half full right now, so hell yeah."

"You sure?" He gave me a quizical look.

"Yes I'm sure." I replied.

"Alright, it's your stomach." shrugged Akihiko. "Just don't overdo it. We need to you to be able to lead."

"I know, man." I sighed. "By the way, who's idea was it to put me in charge anyways? Yukari was around before I showed up and, even if she'd never been in a fight, she still had seniority."

"It was Mitsuru who recommended you be our leader, but I thought you'd be best in the position as well." he told me as we paid for our food then left Hagakure. "And to be honest, I don't think Yukari could handle it."

"Yeah, probably not." I agreed. "But eh." I smirked. "You guys watch my back and I'll watch yours. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah." Akihiko nodded. "Our lives are on the line, after all."

**CRASH**

Sweet!

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

Ah, so THAT'S why I could feel two arcana's from him. One was what Social Link I'd get.

_'Makes sense to me.'_

"Uh, hey, Akihiko, you mind if we stop by the shrine?" I asked him.

"Not really, why?"

I sighed. "Well..."

* * *

Akihiko was seething with tranquil fury by the time I finsihed explaining everything going on with Maiko. He practically demanded we get to the shrime quickly, and we did. Maiko was there waiting for us.

"Hey Maiko-chan!" I smiled as the two of us approached. She didn't seem to cheer up. "What's wrong now?"

"I can't handle it anymore, Hat-kun..." She told me. "Mom and Dad just keep fighting... I yelled at them to please stop fighitng so much... but they just told me to leave them alone." Maiko sniffled as a tear rolled down her face. She quickly whiped it away. "So I made up my mind!" She looked up at me with a determined expression. "I'm going to run away!"

Akihiko flinched next to me, but I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head when he looked at me. I then kneeled down infront of Maiko.

"Sounds like a plan." I said, pulling the old Map I used to get to the Iwatodai Dorm back in April out of my jacket. I've been keeping it on hand in case she decided to go through with this idea. "Here, take this. If you need a place to stay, come here. It's where I live."

"Okay." Maiko nodded. "Don't worry, Hat-kun! I'm going to be just fine, okay?"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

"Okay." I agreed.

"Once I run away, Mom and Dad will have to work together to find me." She grinned. "This is gonna be great! It takes a lot of hard work to get ready to run away..."

"Don't forget your PJ's and toothbrush." I said, pulling her hat down over her eyes. "Okay?"

Maiko fixxed her hat and smiled at me. "I won't!" She looked over at Akihiko. "Um, who's your other friend?"

"Akihiko Sanada." He told her, smiling.

"Do you want to play with us?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Sure." He agreed. "What do you wanna do first?"

* * *

We walked Maiko part of the way home once we'd goofed around at the Shrine for a while. Incidentally, seeing Akihiko get owned at climbing a jungle gym by a second grader is every bit as hilarious as it sounds. On the way back to the dorm, he mentioned he wanted to hit Tartaurs and I was all for it because I wanted to kill the living shit out of something, get Fuuka used to Tartarus, and see Mitsuru in action.

So now we're at Tartarus and heading up to the Barrier. Like Elizabeth said, the thing vanished when we got their so we headed up and slaughtered our way up to a Guardian. I left Yukari at the base of Tartarus with Fuuka because Mitsuru suggested we only go up in four-man teams, I want to see Mitsuru fight, and I still hate Yukari.

Mitsuru's a pretty good healer, actually. Plus her ability to kill stuff with ice is second only to mine, but then again the only reason I outclass anyone is because of Social Link Persona boostage when I fuse new ones and how versitile I am because of the Wild Card.

"Okay, Fuuka, can you give these ugly bug things a scan?" I asked, brandishing my short sword. I'm not actually liking this thing all that much, so I'll probably go back to gauntlets for the next trip. The Guardians were a group of gold Emperor Arcana beetle thingies with crowns. I hate these bug-lookin' shadows because they usually have pretty heavy physical resistance of basicly every sort.

_{They're weak to Zio spells, but are Immune to Bufu skills.}_ Fuuka reported.

"Aw, damn it." I sighed. I wanted to see Mitsuru drop glaciers on them. "Oh well. Mitsuru gets first crack at the next Guardian then." I put my evoker to my head. "OBERON!" **BANG** _ZZZRCH ZZZRCH ZZZRCH_ "CHARGE!"

The Big Ball of Violence, predictably, didn't last long because the shadows recovered from the beating enough to throw us back. One decided it really wanted to kill Junpei, so now he's fending it off by himself while the other two alternate between trying to kill the rest of us. I say trying because between the Zio spam from me and Akihiko and Dia spam from Mitsuru, they weren't doing a very good job of it. Hell, Junpei actually hit the one fighting him so god damn hard with that bigass sword Elizabeth gave me from one of her requests that the bug flew into a wall and died. Go Junpei!

Once we were done slaughtering and aquired the loot, we went ahead and started up towards the next Guardian floor so we could make more progress before calling it a night. About halfway up, stupid Tartarus decided to magically screw us over. See, sometimes the floors we find have weird changes to them. Like finding nothing but these shiny gold shadows that try to run, more Shadows then normal, or even things being to dark for Fuuka(Or Mitsuru back when she was Mission Control) to lead us around very well. This time we got split up and apparently the floor is loaded with nothing but those Gigas things(ya know, the Hulk Hogan Shadows).

"Fuuka!" I shouted as I Zio-stabbed a Gigas through the mask before dodging a different one's tackle. "Can you point me towards the others?"

_{They're in different parts of the floor. You're closest to Mitsuru-senpai.}_ She told me. _{Just go down the hall to your right, then turn left at the first chance you get.}_

"Thankies!" I said, backhanding the Gigas that I dodged a second ago with a Zio-charged fist. I took off down the hall and rounde- "DAMN."

"Ah, Fortune." Mitsuru said calmly as she dodged a Gigas. "There you are."

I blinked. "Uh, you need any help?"

"No." She dodged a punch then stabbed the offending Shadow in the face with her rapier. "I have everything under control."

I should mention she's currently fighting off at least five Gigas Shadows BY HERSELF and that, judging from the ice spikes rammed into the walls, she's already killed at least three others.

"Obey my command!" **BANG**

Huh. So that's what her Persona looks like... And it just dropped pointed mini-glaciers on all the Gigases and killed them. Wow.

"Shall we go find the others?" Mitsuru asked, putting her evoker away. I simply nodded.

_'Hot body, cold mind. A Deadly combonation.'_

Damn straight, Shade. **DAMN** straight.

* * *

We found Junpei and Akihiko pretty quickly, then kept forgin' on to the next Guardian before callin' it a night. I thought I saw the Reaper as we hopped into the Teleporter to head to the bottom, but I really hope I'm wrong. He doesn't usually drop by on Guardian Floors. Something felt off as well, but I'll look into it when I'm not feeling tired and lazy.

Actually ended up walking to school with Mitsuru the next morning. Mostly talked about Student Council stuff for a bit before she informed me that if herself and Akihiko aren't around, we can't go to Tartarus. Makes sense, seeing as they're our senpai, but that's not going to stop me from breaking in by myself If it means not getting blasted with the Reaper's uber death beams. Nothing happened today, and I'm still worried about Maiko so I headed straight to the Shrine after school(making sure to run the entire way to avoid my fangirl horde).

"Hi Hat-kun!" She greeted as I approached. "Thanks for all your help, but... I have to say bye for now."

Oh no... "Why?"

"I have to run away now." She told me. "Remember not to tell Mom and Dad, okay?"

"Okay, but please, if you need a place to stay, don't forget about the map I gave you, okay?"

"Okay!" agreed Maiko as she started off. "Bye Hat-kun!"

"Bye..." I said weakly as she left. I sighed, then sat down on a bench.

_'You okay, man?'_

No, not really.

_'It's about what happened back then, innit?'_

You looked through my memories, didn't you?

_'Nah, as your Shadow I know everything you know.'_

Ah. Makes sense, what with you bein' my dark side 'n all.

"Hey, you!"

I looked over at a middle-aged woman who was walking towards me quickly.

"Have you seen a little girl?" She asked in a panic as a man walked up next to her. "She's in elementary school..."

"Just calm down and think, dammit!" snapped the guy.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" Now she's flipping out. "What if something happens to her!"

"Oh please!" Barked the guy. I think I know who these two are. "This is what happens when you force a child to study non-stop!"

_**"URUSAI."**_ I roared, standing up. I saw their clothes and hair sway as if a sudden breeze hit them, so I think I just channeled a Garu through my shouting. Nice, adds impact to my blistering fury. "You two chuckleheads are Maiko-chan's parent's, aren't you?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MAIKO?" Demanded the woman, grabbing my shirt.

**"GET OUT OF MY FACE."** I shouted, shoving her back hard enough to cause her to fall to the ground.

"You must be Roy." Said Maiko's Dad. "Maiko said she was hanging out with a high school kid instead of practicing piano. I recognised the hat you're wearing."

"Yeah, I gave one like it to Maiko-chan as a belated birthday gift." I told him, crossing my arms as Maiko's mother stood up.

"This is the first I've heard of any of this!" She's still outraged. Don't care. "What the hell did you do to my dau-"

"I DID FUCKING NOTHING, **YOU** DIPSHITS DID!" I bellowed with another Garu Shout(tm). I pointed at her dad. "YOU ESPECIALLY!"

"Jeez kid, what's yo-" He didn't get to finish his sentance because I punched him in the face. He staggered backwards, clutching a bleeding nose. "GAH! What the hell!"

"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS HAVE BEEN TRAUMATIZING YOUR OWN FUCKING DAUGHTER WITH YOUR GOD DAMN BICKERING! THAT'S WHAT THE HELL!" I screamed. "IT'S YOUR FUCKING FAULT MAIKO-CHAN RAN AWAY! NOT ONLY HAVE YOU BEEN TREATING HER LIKE FUCKING DIRT, YOU-" I pointed at Maiko's dad "-FUCKING HIT HER, AND YOU-" I switched my accusing finger's target to Maiko's mom "-SAID THAT BECAUSE SHE WAS SO ANNOYING IT'S HER FAULT YOU FUCKING RETARDS ARE GETTING A DIVORCE!"

_'ROY! Calm the hell down, man!'_ NOT ON YOUR LIFE, SHADE.

"Wh-" Maiko's mom was taken aback, then she got pissy. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

"I KNOW PLENTY, YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH!" I backhanded her with a closed fist. "I'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE, AND IT GOT MY COUSIN KILLED!"

They both looked at me with awestruck expressions.

"You two idiots are so fucking wrapped up in your petty ass squabbling, you don't even realise you're driving your own damn daughter away!" I snarled. "And if you are any sort of decent parents or human beings, you'd know where she'd most likely go." I grabbed my school bag off the bench, then shoved past her dad. "Don't you fucking DARE follow me."

* * *

I knew exactly where the first place Maiko would go would be, so I went there myself. To my non-surprise, she was sitting on the bench near the takoyaki stand at the Iwatodai Strip Mall exactly like I figured she would be.

"Hey Maiko-chan." I said flatly as I sat down next to her.

"Hi Hat-kun..." She seemed confused. "How did you find me?"

I smirked. "You like the takoyaki here, so I figure'd you'd stop by when you got hungry, and nobody called to mention you stopped by the dorm." I sighed. "I saw your parents."

"You did?" Maiko's expression fell. "You didn't tell them, did you?"

"Nope." I replied. "I got angry and yelled at them. Said if they really loved you they'd know where you'd be most likely to run off to."

"There you are!"

We looked over to see Maiko's parents coming towards us quickly.

"Mom! Dad!" She's clearly surprised.

I glared at her dad as her Mom was bawling over Maiko. "I thought I told you to not follow me."

"We figured it out a couple minutes after you left, kid." He glared right back. His nose looks messed up. I probably broke it.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Asked Maiko's mom in a paniced voice. Her lip looks a teeny bit swollen. "You almost gave me a heart attack, young lady!"

"Geez, calm down!" said her dad. "Can't you tell she's scared?"

"Y-You guys made me worry too! I was so scared... you said you were getting a divorce, and I didn't know what to do!" Maiko started crying. "I don't want you to get divorced because of me!"

She broke down sobbing in her mother's arms, and I stood up.

"We're sorry, Maiko." Her dad was looking down, shame written on his face. "Why don't we go home and talk about this?" He looked over at me. "Not sure if this means anything, but... thanks kid."

I scoffed at him, then looked back at Maiko with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Hat-kun..." She sniffled.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

I headed back to the dorm as Maiko went home with her parents. I called up Hidetoshi and Chihiro on the way and told them what happened with Maiko and her parents, and they were just glad things were going to be working out for the little girl.

* * *

Everyone was in the lounge when I got back, and Junpei was the first to look at me. He seemed a bit freaked.

"Whoa, Roy, what the hell happened to you?"

Everyone else turned to look at me. I caught my reflection in a window on the way back and my eyes are bloodshot and I've got a scowl locked onto my face. "Maiko-chan."

"Who's Maiko-chan?" Yukari asked. Ah. Right. None of the girls here are in the loop about her. I sighed.

"Let me go drop my stuff off in my room and get changed, then I'll explain."

* * *

Once I had my casual stuff on and I explained everything, the lounge was silent. General concensus as near as I can guess? Maiko's parents _SUCK._

"Ugh... People like that are the absolute **WORST**." snarled Yukari. "What kind of parents say things like that to their daughter?"

I think hell froze over, because my respect for Yukari just went up ten points.

"It's despicable." spat Akihiko.

"Poor Maiko-chan..." Fuuka said sadly. "Do you think she'll be okay, Roy-kun?"

"I don't know." I sighed, burrying my face in my hands. "I honestly don't know."

"Will you be alright, Fortune?"

I looked up at Mitsuru with raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Your file stated that there was a similar situation in your family four years ago, so I tho-"

"Are you SHITTING ME?" I snapped, standing up from the chair I was sitting in. I glared at her, then sarcasticly threw my arms up. "Wait, who am I kidding, of COURSE you know about that. You probably have my entire god damn life story on paper up in the fucking command room, you overly controlling bitch!"

"Excuse me!" Mitsuru stood up and glared at me.

"I DIDN'T FUCKING STUTTER." I barked. "You probably can't stand not being in the know about anything, so you've probably got enough information to blackmail everyone here in to helping you fight Shadows if we ever decided to say 'screw this, I'm going home'!" I pointed an accusing finger at her. "You think you're all intimidating and shit, but you don't scare me, Kirijo! And next time you want to stab a knife into old wounds, at least have the decentcy to do it when there's nobody else around!" I jammed my hands into my pockets angrily and marched towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

_**"OUT."**_ I snapped with a Garu Shout, startling everyone as I opened the door. "Follow me and I don't care who you are, I WILL break your bones." I slammed the door behind me and stalked off into the night.

* * *

_'Fucking Mitsuru.'_

Damn straight.

_'It's just... AUGH, I'm so pissed off right now I can't think about it!'_

Then shut up and let me walk.

_'Where the hell are you walking to?'_

Tartarus.

_'Gonna vent on some Shadows?'_

Bonus points if I find a floor full of Gigas.

* * *

I arrived at the school just after the Dark Hour hit. I climbed over the fence as Tartarus rose, then went inside.

Now I'm not dumb enough to try and tackle a Tartarus Guardian by myself, so I just opted to go up to the next-highest floor and solo my way up to one we left off at, then call it quits for the night.

First floor I got to after I went up the tower? Loaded with Gigas. _Squee._ "OBERON!" **BANG** Chain lightning's got nothing on me, bitches! After I killed them, I got a shuffle time and snagged a sword card for a weapon. Got me a nice set of gauntlets with clawed fingertips, meaning I can basicly cause all three kinds if physical damage; Stabbing for pierce, punching for strike, and clawing for slash. Score.

I tore my way around the floor looking for loot before I headed up and I found a couple rare chests with little black doll things called Homonculus in them. Next floor I found out what they're good for while going up against these really cool looking Hermit Arcana Shadows(I recognise the mask) that like to throw Darkness spells around. Mitsuru told me that Hama and Mudo are instant-death spells, but when used on a human merely knock them unconcious. They have a crap chance of actually working, though, and so far we've managed to never get hit by one. I was not so lucky this time. For the record, those damn things sting like a _BITCH_, but here's what them Homonculus are good for; They take the brunt of the Mudo, or Hama presumably, and let you stay concious. I am going to see if I can find a place that sells them and stock the fuck up on them bitches, because damn it they are handy.

To avoid using up my other Homonculus, I kept Oberon active at all times when I found those Hermit Shadows because he resists Darkness and Light, basicly dropping the already pathetic chances of getting hit by a Hama or Mudo to almost fucking nothing. It's great.

Eventually I think I got up to about three quarters of the way to the next Guardian while ventalating rage into Shadows to the point where the damn things started running the fuck away from me whenever they spotted me when I heard a familiar sound.

The rattling of chains.

Normally I'm not easily scared, but this is the fucking Reaper we're talking about, and I have no way of knowing if he's in a good mood right now. Needless to say I bolted for the stairs, scrambling into the room and trying to catch my breath on the steps as the rattling got closer.

**'Greetings, human.'**

"Hey Reaper." I replied, sitting slightly more upright and looking at the embodiment of Death. "What's the occasion?"

**'I am curious.' **He said. **'You arrived by yourself and have been savagely destroying the Shadows.'**

"Working off some anger." I grunted, turning my head away slightly.

**'May I ask why?'**

I looked at the Reaper with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged. "You really wanna know?" The Reaper nodded. I sighed. "Alright, fine."

I shifted my sitting position on the stairs. "About four and a half years back my Aunt and her husband started hating each other. Like, REALLY hating each other. Their son, my cousin Cody, was caught in the middle of it. He was almost a year younger then me, and whenever his family came over to my Uncle's house where I was living to visit, he'd talk to me about it. It was eating me up they were doing that kind of thing." I frowned. "Eventually his parents started to turn their aggression on him when he'd ask why they were having problems and wanted to divorce."

**'What does an event from your past have to do with your anger now?'**

"Simple." I replied. "I met a little girl by the name of Maiko. She's about seven years old, and is going through the same thing, and today she ran away from home to get her parent's attention. Her parents, like she predicted, came looking for her. I met them and yelled at them to stop being god damn idiots and think about their daughter instead of bickering, then went to find Maiko myself. Her parents showed up later, promised to talk to her about it, then left."

The Reaper tilted his head in confusion. **'If the situation was resolved in such a way, why are you angry?'**

"I'm not done with my story." I griped, glaring at him. "Anyways, I went back to the place I live it with my buddies who usually come romp around this place with me and told them what went on." I looked away from the Reaper. "You know the girl with red hair who used to hang around the bottom of Tartarus till that fight with those big shadows a few hours back?"

**'The Empress? I know of her, yes.'**

"Well she decided to bring up the whole thing with my cousin."

**'Did it not end similarly to what happened with Maiko?'**

I shook my head. "Cody came up with the 'If I run away, they'll worry about me and stop fighting to look for me!' idea like Maiko did. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was stubborn. Last time I saw him before he went through with it, he said he'd be fine and he had a plan. Two days after that visit, his parents came to us and were absolutely flipping their shit that he disappeared." I pulled my fedora down slightly to obscure my eyes. "Uncle Shane told them to calm the hell down, then asked me if Cody said anything to me. I told him that he only told me he had a plan for once he ran away, but wouldn't tell me what it was. The day after that, we got a call. It was the Police."

I swallowed hard, then sighed. "Cody was dead."

**'I see...'** The Reaper crossed his arms. **'What happened?'**

"He got hit by a drunk driver late at night. The guy driving the car didn't survive either." I told him. "Aunt Melissa and her husband never stopped beating themselves up over it. Saddest part? Cody's folks get along great now. They're practically inseperable, and their own son, who wanted them to stay together the most, isn't even alive to see it." I whiped a tear from my eye. "They moved out to Idaho a few months after Cody died, but would still drop by for Christmas and such. Never really explained why, but I didn't question it." I pushed my hat up and glanced at the Reaper. "Probably had too many reminders about what happened staring them in the face."

**'I do not understand.'** I turned my head to fully face the Reaper. **'Death is a part of life. Why did the death of their child effect them so profoundly?'**

"Cody was only eleven years old. He had his whole life ahead of him." I scowled. "His death was completely and utterly fucking pointless and could very well have been avoided if his parents weren't massive idiots."

**'Could they not simply have another child?'**

"It doesn't fucking work like that!" I snapped, standing up. "You don't get to just say 'Well shit, out son's dead, let's have another' when something like that happens! There's a deeper connection to it then that! People aren't just things to be replaced!"

**'There are billions of coffins outside this tower. Billions of them, and if they were all to vanish, I would feel nothing.'** The Reaper uncrossed his arms. **'I do not know much about your world, but I do know that death is inescapable.' **He drew himself to his full height. **'Perhaps the reason they changed dwellings is because they have moved on, while you have not.'**

The Reaper melted into the wall of Tartarus, leaving me in silence.

**CRASH**

Wait, what in the fuck?

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

Wait... did... did I... **DID I JUST FUCKING SOCIAL LINK THE FUCKING _REAPER?_**

* * *

Author Note- Yes Roy. You did. SO WHO SAW THIS COMING? Fuckin' NOBODY, that's who! Well technically DropletofSour did, but that's because I got his help because he's cool, but WHATEVER! I've had this Social Link planned right from the begining when I tried to figure out what quirk my Reaper would have. My first thought went straight to 'SOCIAL LINK HIM' just to see what I can do with it. Trust me, it's going to be a very interesting Social Link. Very, very interesting.


	15. Art, Thunder, and a New Record

I found an access point and simply staggered my way out of Tartarus, hopping the fence and starting back to the dorm.

I just fucking Social Linked **THE REAPER**. How in the bluest of blue hells did I manage that? I mean seriously!

_'I'm actually more concerned about the Arcana of the Social Link.'_

The Arcana...? Oh, right. Tower. That usually represents things like Pride and your ideals crashing down, doesn't it?

_'Yeah. Which begs the question; Can the Primordial Manifestation of Death itself even GET introspective?'_

...This is going to be one weird Social Link.

_'Like we probably wouldn't believe, man.'_

Joy.  
___  


* * *

_

When I got back to the dorm, the Dark Hour was over and I found Mitsuru and Fuuka waiting for me in the lounge.

"What were you thinking?" Mitsuru snapped the moment I was inside.

"Working off my frustration without killing somebody." I snapped back. I only partly counted on Mitsuru or Fuuka scanning for me when the Dark Hour hit, but if she's getting pissy about something, she probably knows I went to Tartarus alone. "That's what I was thinking."

"You could have been killed, Fortune!"

I blinked. She looks pissed. She sounds pissed. But the way she's saying it, and the way she's looking at me... it's like she was genuinely WORRIED about me. What in the hell happened after I left? I sighed, then crossed my arms. "Sorry."

That startled her a bit.

"Anyways, I found out something important while I was there." I said, pulling out the card I stashed the Homonculus in and having it morph into the little doll thing. "I found a couple of these in those Rare chests while I was there. We need more of them."

Mitsuru just raised her eyebrow.

"They semi-block those Insta-kill spells Hama and Mudo." I told her. "Sure they still hurt like a motherfucker, but one of these, if you have one with you, will asplode itself to save you from being knocked out by them. I found that out the hard way."

"I see..." She folded her arms. "Perhaps you should go to the Antique shop in Paulowania Mall tomorrow."

Eyebrow. "Why?"

"The owner is a former Kirjio scientist and she can use the gems found in Tartarus to create useful items, possibly even those dolls."

"Seriously?" I asked, blinking in surpirse. "Sweet! I'll be sure to stop by sometime, then." I yawned. "But me need sleep. Rage and adrenaline fueled rampages through Tartarus can wear a guy out." I started towards the stairs. "G'night..."

"Wait."

I stopped and looked back at Mitsuru.

"I wanted to... appologise." she said, her eyes aimed at the floor. "I shouldn't have mentioned what I did..."

I sighed. "Whatever. It's more my own fault for exploding anyways." I looked back to the stairs. "But more about that some other time." I started up to my room. "SLEEP."

* * *

Went to bed, woke up later, then headed to school. The day was boring, but then Fuuka came up to me at lunch.

"Um, Roy-kun?"

I looked at her. "Sup?"

"Um, I was wondering..." She had a lunchbox in her hands. "Would you try my cooking?"

I turned and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You cook?"

"I'm still learning..." Fuuka admitted sadly, tilting her head downards. "So I've just been experimenting..."

"Good enough for me. Let's eat."

She looked up at me an beamed, then led me up to the roof before she gave me the bento. I popped it open. Okay, it doesn't LOOK normal, but it's entirely possible it tastes better then it looks.

"Itadakimasu." I said before taking a bite of... whatever the hell she made. I chewed it slowly, then swallowed.

"S-So... how does it taste?"

"I've had worse." I said, eating another bite. "Lemme tell ya, cheese and chocolate do not go well together. Keep that in mind." I handed her back the bento. "That said, it's still not very good."

"Oh..." Fuuka looked down. "That's what I thought." She gave a depressed sigh. "Th-Thank you for your honesty..."

_'Oh lord...'_

You okay?

_'Been better... I think I'm getting food poisoning...'_

That shouldn't even be possible.

_'I know... but it's happening...'_

"Hoooo boy..." I winced. "Apparently your food is giving Shade indegestion."

"H-Huh?" Oh man, she looks like she's about ready to die.

"But that might be a good thing." I said. "Think about it. If it can effect HIM, imagine what it'd do to Shadows."

Fuuka was silent for a second, then started giggling like crazy.

"Besides, Shade's probably just a big whiner." I comented dismissively. "You'll get better with practice."

She smiled at me. "Thank you, Roy-kun. Sorry I made you taste test my cooking."

"It's no problem." I smirked. I think it's about time for the spooky voices to-

**CRASH**

-the party!

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana_.

Awright.

* * *

Fuuka 'n me chatted for a bit, then headed back to class before lunch was over. Once I was in the room, I heard a few students talking about how the Culture Clubs were apparently recruiting members.

_'I smell a Social Link.'_

Indeed. I'll have to check out art club. I knew there was a reason I brought my sketchbook with me today.

_'Apart from sketching durring class instead of taking notes?'_

Quiet, you.

* * *

Anyways, I had a cunning plan durring class(after Mr. Edogawa told me if I reincarnate I'll be human again because I somehow paid attention to what he was saying) and bolted down to the Art Room. To my surprise, Fuuka was there. Huh. Would've figure'd she'd be in a cooking club. OH WELL.

"Huh?" Fuuka looked at me in surprise as this dude with a grin on his face and glasses walked over. Fortune Arcana.

_'I like him already.'_ Me too.

"Um... You're not a member of this club, are you?" He asked, then he looked at Fuuka. "Do you know him, Fuuka-san?"

She nodded. "Yeah, this is the guy I was just telling you about..."

"Oh, so this is him, huh?" He looked back at me. "You must be Roy-kun. I've heard a lot about you from Fuuka-san!"

"We're looking for new members to join our club, so I mentioned your name." She smiled. "I'm really happy you decided to stop by."

"Um, I'm Keisuke Hiraga." Stammered that guy with the glasses. "P-Pleased to meet you."

"He's supposed to be pleased to meet YOU, Keisuke-senpai." Called out a dude from the other side of the room. "You're the club leader, after all."

Keisuke chuckled slightly. "O-Oh, that's right..."

Fuuka giggled. "He always acts like this."

"Seems nice enough." I commented as Keisuke muttered to himself.

"Hey, Keisuke-senpai, you're a senior, right?" asked Fuuka. "You must have finals coming up soon, huh?"

He twitched slightly. "No, I... uh..." He shook his head, then looked at me. "H-Hey, Roy-kun, are you a good painter?"

"No." I told him while pulling my sketchbook out of my bag. "But I'm good at sketching."

He took it and looked through it, his jaw dropping. "W-Whoa, you're really good!"

"Really?" I asked, tilting my head. "I just doodle, really."

He handed my book back to me. "No, that's great work! We don't have any professional artists in this club. I mean, I'm a notice and I'm the leader!" His grin widened. "Meeting you like this can't be coincidence; It must be fate..."

I smirked. "Then I guess fate just teld you a Wild Card." I put my sketchpad away.

**CRASH**

CALLED IT!

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

Oh HELL YES.

"If you're interesting in joining, Just write your name on the sign-up sheet." Kesiuke told me. "Only club members are allowed to enter the room, so make sure you sign your name."

"Alright, cool." I said, putting my name on the sheet, then heading towards the door. "Can't stick around today, I promised Kaz I'd head to Tennis practice. Later days!"

_'Are you gonna...?'_

Yes. Yes I am.

* * *

Rio was in a good mood when I got there, and Kaz(he's got a cast on his left leg because he did the surgery. He was absent the last five days or so.) was talking to Yuko. I went to talk to Rio first.

"Hey, so how'd it go with Kenji?" I asked as I walked over, resting my racket on my shoulder.

"Oh, I talked to him the other day." She replied. "It... didn't go as well as I'd hoped..."

I sighed. "Still an idiot dispite the fact I saw him freaking out after he saw Kanou-sensei making out with some guy at Port Island Station?"

Rio seemed shocked. "What? When did that happen?"

"Uh... same day I found out you liked him, actually."

"I see..." She nodded slowly.

"Well, in my oppinion, you've just gotta be persistant." I told her. "Just keep trying, maybe work on subtly hinting at it, then who knows? Maybe he'll unstupid his brain and realise he's got a beautiful girl waiting for him to sweep her off her feet."

Rio looked at me with wide eyes and blushed.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. "You're very attractive. I mean hell, if you had a thing for me instead of Kenji, I doubt I'd be able to resist for very long." I really wouldn't.

She giggled a little. "Thanks, Roy."

"No problem." I smirked. I looked over at Kaz. "So how's he been doin'?"

"Coach Yamato has him taking it easy because of his leg, but other then that he's been okay." She looked at me. "And, thanks for helping me."

"With what?"

"Well, you and Hamuko." She admited sheepishly. "Before you two came along, I never though I'd be asking other people about love." She giggled. "I thought it was right to sacrifice everything and devote myself to the team..." Rio looked up at the sky. "No matter how tough things got, knowing I was getting better would relieve my stress... but I had forgotten something very important."

"What was that?"

"To have fun." She replied, looking at me again. "I forgot the joy of tennis." She held up a worn out book. "Take a look at this. It's a beginner's guide."

"And from the looks of it, you read it a hell of a lot." I noted. "You must've been enthusiastic about tennis, huh?"

Rio nodded. "I'd read this in bed, when I ate, even durring class." She handed me the book. "I want to give this to you."

I carefully held the worn tome in my hands.

"I want you to have the thing that gave me so much inspiration back then." She smiled. "I think... It'll help me remember that I'm not alone."

I smirked. "Thanks, Rio. I'll take good care of it."

"I'm glad to hear that." Her smile widened into a grin.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana._

"Yo, Roy!" I looked over to see Kaz hopping over on his crutches. "You got a minute? I need to talk to you."

"Sure thing." I stood up. "'Scuse me, Rio."

* * *

We walked a bit of the way back to the locker room before Kaz started saying anything.

"Where should I begin?" He sighed. "It's all a mess in my brain..." He reached into his pocket. "First, let me give you this..." Kaz handed me a roll of sports tape. "My nephew gave it to me as a good luck charm." He smirked. "There's so much I could never use it all."

"Thanks dude." I put the roll in my pocket. "It'll come in handy. Think you'll be ready in time for the big meet?"

He sighed. "No, doctor said it'd take too long for my leg to heal."

"Ouch."

"I'm not giving up, though." He told me. "Once I get better, I'm gonna give it my all!"

I patted him on the shoulder. "Now that's the Kaz I know."

"Heh, yeah." He lightly shook his head. "Before, all I thought about was winning... but when Coach was grilling me about me knee, I realized I can't keep thinking only of myself, but I can't just give up on winning, that's part of who I am."

"So you're gonna take it easy till you kick your busted leg's ass?"

"Damn straight!" Kaz replied with a grin. "I dunno how, but I wanna thank you for all the help you've given me."

"Get better." I told him. "That's thanks enough."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I... And I am thou..._

FUCK YES.

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured._

_The innermost power of the Chariot Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Thor, the ultimate form of the Chariot Arcana... This bond you have forged will never be broken..._

DUDE! I can summon **THOR**? Norse God of Thunder and Badass? HELL YEAH!

_'This can only be awesome.'_

Damn _STRAIGHT_ it can only be awesome!

* * *

I didn't get much practicing in after that, so I decided to head to the Shrine to see Maiko. Surprisingly, I bumped into Junpei on the way to Port Island Station and he opted to tag along. When we got there, Maiko seemed to be doing better so we played together for a while.

"Hey, Hat-kun?" She asked as we took a break on a bench. "I'm kind of hungry... Let's go out to eat!"

"Good call." I stated, patting my stomach. "I have the munchies and mah belleh demands a hamburger."

"Oh! I want a Frog Burger from Wild-Duck!"

* * *

So the three of us headed to Wild-Duck Burger. This is actually my first time eating here, and I gotta admit, they make damn good Not-McNuggets here. Looking at the fries Junpei's eating, though, they're really greasy. Bleh.

"So..." Maiko began suddenly after taking a sip of her drink. "After what happened Yesturday, Mom and Dad... they talked to me about why they were getting divorced." She absently looked away with a small frown. "I was sad, but I listened to what they said..." She looked back at me. "Did I do good?"

"Yeah, ya did." I smirked, ruffling her hair a little under her hat. "You did real good."

She giggled and pushed my hand away. "Thanks a bunch, Hat-kun!" She sighed. "So, Mom and Dad... they said that when there's no love, it's hard to still be married, but they said I shouldn't worry because they would always love me."

"That's good to know." Junpei commented.

"I told them that they're still not allowed to get divorced." Maiko pouted. "Even if you don't have love, you still have to try!" She looked down slightly. "Hey, so... I have to choose whether I want to live with Mom or Dad... But I can't choose that!" She looked back at me. "You decide for me, okay?"

I set my drink down. "What do you think, Junpei?"

"I think you should go with your Mom, Maiko-chan." He said. "Roy told me she was really upset about what happened."

"Mom was crying a lot when we went home..." She noted thoughtfully. "I don't want her to be all alone... Maybe going with her might be best..." Her eyes opened wide and she turned to face me. "Oh... but Mom might move somewhere far away, so if I went with her, I couldn't play with you anymore, Hat-kun!" Maiko frowned. "That would be bad... I'd miss you too much."

"Yeah, I'd miss you too, Maiko-chan." I sighed.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

She looked at the watch on her wrist and frowned. "I better get home..." Her eyes lit up and she looked at me. "Hey, will you hold my hand on the way home?"

I looked at Junpei. "Got time for a Detour?"

"Yeah." He smirked and nodded.

* * *

We walked Maiko home, then headed back to the Dorm. Junpei seemed kinda out of it.

"What's the matter?"

"Um..." He winced. "Ugh, I'm no good at this... where do I start?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Start what, dude?"

"Uhh, maybe this isn't such a good idea..." He looked away slightly. "Still... See, I had something Important I wanted to talk about..."

"Then talk, man." I said. "It's no big deal."

"Well, see I want you to have this." He handed me a key holder with a little cartoon pig on it. "I never had much I was attached to, but I always held onto this for some reason."

I blinked a few times. "What's this for?"

"I used to keep my house keys on that." Junpei chuckled grimly. "Thing is, I never wanted to go home..."

"'Cuz of you dad?"

He nodded. "When it turned out I could live at the dorm, you wouldn't believe how happy I was." He looked up at the sky. "I thought after that, I could turn my back on it all."

"You know man..." I said. "I realise we haven't really talked all that much. I mean there's been a few things, but other then that..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He sighed.

"Well hey, if there's somethin' buggin' ya, lemme know." I smirked. "I'm your best friend."

Junpei chuckled again. "Thanks." His expression turned serious. "I don't really wanna admit it, but... I'm kinda jealous of ya."

"It's because of the stuff I can do, huh? What with the multiple Personas 'n all?"

He sighed. "Yeah..."

"Well man, don't sweat it." I smirked. "I mean sure, I've got a bunch a 'sonas, but none of them are really me."

"What cha' mean?"

"Well, a Persona is a manifestation of your mind and personality if I'm remembering correctly, and I did a bit of searching on the myths behind them." I told him. "One of the things denoted about Hermes in mythology is that he's a pretty cool guy to hang out with."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I told him. "With me, I don't really have a 'self', so to speak. And besides, none of the 'sonas I got learn more then five new moves unless I fuse 'em and they inherit moves from the ones used to make 'em. You've got it easy, you don't gotta train up ten different personas at once." I lightly punched his arm. "You've got Hermes, and he's all you need."

"Yeah, you're right." He smiled. "Thanks, man."

"No prob." I looked at the keychain he gave me again. "So why'd you give this to me?"

"Well, thing is after I got to the dorm, I stashed that and my housekeys away 'cause I figured I'd never have to use 'em again." He told me. "But, after a while, and seeing what Maiko-chan was going through, I didn't like the way I was trying to avoid stuff." He sighed. "I knew the problem wasn't gonna go away just 'cause I wouldn't look at it... and that I was lame for even thinking so..." He looked at me. "That's why I dug these out."

"You plan on visiting your dad sometime?"

Junpei nodded. "Yeah, but I'm still kinda chicken..." He smirked. "But if you're holdin' onto that for me, it'll be like you've got my back. That way I've got the guts to see him."

I smirked back. "I've always got you back, Junpei. You just focus on returnin' the favor, alright?"

"Alright." His smirk turned into a grin and we bumped fists.

**CRASH**

Wow, perfect time for a time stop. I'm stuck havin' a fist bump with Junpei.

_I am thou... and thou art I..._

Whoa, what?

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured._

_The innermost power of the Magician Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Surt, the ultimate form of the Magician Arcana... This bond you have forged will never be broken..._

Two of those in the same day? Freakin' sweet.

_'That makes Five links in one day, man. Wanna try for Six?'_

Damn Straight I do. Let's go blackmail Tanaka some more!

* * *

Me 'n Junpei chatted the rest of the back to the dorm, then I dropped my stuff off 'n got changed, then headed to the mall.

"Today's lession is called 'the smaller the dog, the louder the bark!'" Proclaimed the corrupt buisnessman. "Have you ever wonder what it would be like to be able to see through people's bathing suits at the beach?"

"Are you forgetting I'm still carrying around tape recorders?"

He groaned and slapped his palm over his face. "I was hoping you'd given up on that..."

"Not on your life, but please, continue." I stuck my hand in my pocket, then pulled it back out a moment later. "I hit the stop button for now." I really didn't, but he doesn't need to know.

"Alright then." Smirked Tanaka. "Our company has introduced a special filter for digital cameras. Simply attach it to your camera and viola! Start peeping. We've been advertising it in adult magazines. Our ad slogan is 'Undress them with your camera eye.', and it's been selling like hotcakes!" His grin widened. "In fact, it's our number one seller!"

_'Because this is **JAPAN** and they are **WEIRD LIKE THAT**.'_

I was just about to say the same thing.

"Unfortunetly, customers have been complaining that it doesn't work." He scoffed slightly. "I told my employees to just ignore them. Nowhere does it guarantee that you'll be able to see anything. And it's not like anyone would actually admit they bought one." Tanaka sized me up. "By the way, try to cut back on the donuts and cupcakes. I have an idea for an ad campaign." He grinned. "Women would go crazy over a handsome young man in his briefs, and I think you'd be perfect for the job!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

FUCK YEAH! SOCIAL LINK WORLD RECORD! SIX IN ONE DAY, BITCHES!

"Have you been keeping your promise? You didn't tell anyone, did you?" Tanaka narrowed his eyes at me. "If you go back on your word, I'll paste a picture of your head on the most hideous body I can find!"

And then he ran off. Seriously dude, THINK OF BETTER THREATS.

_'I wonder if Mitsuru's family would like to be able to buy his company...'_

I like that idea. Yay blackmail.

* * *

Got back to the dorm and just went to bed because it was late, but made sure to metion I planned on hitting Tartarus tomorrow before I hit the sack.

Next day I stopped by Student Council for a quick chat with Hidetoshi. The meeting was over before I got there, but I stuck around and he told me a story about how he wanted to build a corperation where people are treated fairly(Basicly the opposite of anything Tanaka might ever want) because of a person he once knew who tried to teach him about Sincerity, only to end up being thrown in jail for perjury. No link boostage, but I'm actually glad he got it off his chest.

I'm thinking I should try slowing it down on the links a little after yesturday. I mean, six in one day? Awesome, yes, but DAMN, that burnt me out mentally.

_'Probably a good plan to cool it. Don't wanna fry your brain, dude. I kinda live in there.'_

And I kinda need it to, ya know, function and stuff. So it works out for both of us.

_'Cool, so wanna go kill some shit?'_

Indeed I do, but first I should head to that antique shop for some supplies...

_'Oh yeah. Need more of those Homonculus thingies...'_

Damn fucking straight I do.

* * *

Author Notes: Not much to say about this chapter, apart from agreeing with Roy's comment on slowing down on Social Links. Seriously, I took count of all his links, and he's maxxed out four as of this chapter. Anywho, updates might be a bit slower because of the holidays and New Game Syndrome(Playing a new game non-stop for like, three days), so yeah.


	16. Best Dog Forever

Pre-chapter Review Answer Corner!

**Frost XZ -** HAHAHAHAH-NO. It's just Mitsuru's Team Mom instinct kicking in a little is all.

* * *

So first order of buisness was to head over to Paulowania Mall and stop by the antique shop. Sorta old-ish lady with brown hair greeted me.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asked.

"Mitsuru Kirijo sent me." I told her. "Said I might be able to pick up some Homonculus here."

"Ah, I've been expecting you." She replied. "I have a few, but I could create more if you have any of gems dropped by shadows."

"Well good." I replied, pulling out the cards I kept the gems in. They listed the amount of the item carried in them, and there was at least ten of each. "Because I got a bunch."

She took the cards, then looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right, sorry." I took the cards back. "You got a basket?"

She walked behind the counter, then pulled one out and set it down.

"Alright, cool." I walked over and emptied the cards into the basket. It was a decent amount, but not rediculous. "How many can I get for these?"

"A fair amount." She replied, and impressed smirk on her face. "Also, are you the one who can weild multiple Personae?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Why?"

"I have recently perfected a way to create special weapons by fusing Personae to items such as this." She pulled out what looked like a very basic, completely black short sword.

I raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"

"A Nihil Weapon." She replied. "All you need is to provide me with a Persona."

_'No you cannot try stuffing me into one of those.'_

That's just stupid, and even if I wanted to, I dunno if I can even Evoke your ass OR if I could get you back.

_'Good point... You registered your 'sonas in the compendium before you came back from the mall last night, right?'_

Yeah. Which one you think I should give her?

_'I vote Tam Lin.'_

"Alright, I'll give you one of my 'sonas to make something with that sword." I took out my evoker. "How much it gonna cost?"

She scoffed. "Please, I'm a scientist. Performing an experiment and seeing the result is payment enough."

"Alright then." Evoker to my head. "Tam Lin!" **BANG**

Huh. Apparently Evoking outside the dark hour is possible. And the scientist lady just pulled out what looks like a hybrid Megaphone, hairdryer, and handheld vaccum cleaner and sucked up Tam Lin. Then she took the Nihil weapon and stuck it in a machine and hooked up the vaccum gun thingie to it.

"Would you like me to have this delivered to the dorm when it's complete?" She asked.

"Sure." I said. "How long will it take?"

"At least a day."

"What about the Homonculus?"

"Ten Minutes."

Oh hell yes.

* * *

So I walked out of the Antique Shop with about ten Homonculus in a card in my pocket. I was sort of smug about it for absolutely no reason. I mean sure, it's not much, but it's better then nothing. Just got to tell everyone to be careful with 'em.

Anywho, once I got back to the dorm I passed out the Homonculi among everyone and gave an abridged explanation of how they work before we headed to Tartarus. I told everyone to tag along on up to the Guardian so we could have an extra set of hands when it came time to fight this bastard.

"Fuuka, this thing got a weakness?"

_{Give me a sec, I'll scan the target.}_

"Can do!" I replied, diving out of the way of a crazy powerful wind blast. "Junpei, stick near Yukari and throw fireballs at it!"

"Alright!" he called back, steping closer to her.

_{This Shadow is the Intrepid Knight.}_ Fuuka reported. _{I can't sense any weaknesses it may have.}_

"Well SHIT!" I barked, dodging a spear attack from the psychotic white-armored knight and his crazy armored unicorn. "Plan B! THROW EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT AT IT!"

"I summon thee!" **BANG**

Seriously, Mitsuru's abilities are crazy. She's already started learning the next teir of offencive spells while everyone else(except me) is just now getting ahold of Multi-target skills. It's very, very helpful.

Against this particular Guardian, though? Not as much as I'd like. By the way, this whole time I've been talking? Yeah, I'm dodging more of those crazy wind blasts of doom. Also Hamas. It suuuuuuuucks.

"FUUKA!" I shouted as I roll out of the way of another stab from the stupid knight's spear. "Can you try to see if it's got like a weak point on its armor or something?"

_{I can try, just give me some time, okay?}_

"Alright!" I replied, summoning Oberon for a Zio. HOY, SHADE.

_'What?'_

You got any new tricks or am I going to have to just get to you let me bust out the claws?

_'No dice, man. Nothin' I got could help right now.'_

Darn, that- DODGE THE SPEAR -sucks. Wait, what about the claws?

_'Like I said, no dice. You're gonna have to get sufficently more awesome to be able to use them.'_

Aw man, that blows! Ah well. I got an Agilao gem 'n Imma chuck it at this bastard! "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

**BWA-_FWOOM_**

Oh sweet, that killed it! "Nice work guys, now let's grab the loot and get movin'. Junpei, you're lookin' kinda worn so you go down 'n keep Fuuka company while the rest of us head up to the barrier."

"Thanks Roy." He replied, slumping over slightly. Yeah, that stupid bastard's wind blasts hit him pretty hard. Thank god Hermes knows Rakukaja or we might've been carting his unconcious ass down the teleporter... no wait, I could've just Recarm'd him. Elizabeth gave me a card for that as a reward not too long ago and I taught it to Oberon. Ah well. We've got a tower to climb!

* * *

And we ended up at the Barrier really quickly so not much else happened till I dropped by the Velvet Room. I cashed in the requests from Elizabeth I'd completed. Got some of that cool armor-thread clothing stuff for Mitsuru, and like the last few suits I've gotten from Elizabeth it's winter clothing. Also like the sets me and Akihiko have, it boosts Spiritual Power so Mitsuru can cast more Persona spells. I almost feel sorry for the Shadows, but meh. Sucks to be them.

After the Barrier and me handing in the document to Elizabeth, we headed back to the dorm to get some sleep. Headed to school the next morning but nothing really happened there, so I went to see Maiko. We played for a bit, then she wanted to get some takoyaki so now we're at that Octopia place at the strip mall.

"I made my decision, Hat-kun." She said suddenly. "I'm going to live with Mom, since she has to cook and clean and still go to work... I want to help out too!"

"What about your dad?" I asked.

"I don't have to worry about Dad." She replied. "Even without me around, I think Dad will be okay on his own."

Maiko sighed sadly. "...So, Mom and I are gonna have to move pretty soon..." She looked up at me. "Sorry..." Her face lit up. "But, we'll still be friends, right?"

I smirked. "Friends forever."

"Best friends forever!" Maiko cheered. "Forever and ever and ever, okay? You can't ever forget about me." She held out her pinky towards me. "Promise, okay?"

I hooked my pinky with hers. "It's a promise."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hanged Man Arcana._

Maiko let go of my finger, then stood up. "I'll see you again once I'm done getting ready, okay?"

"Alright. Take care, Maiko-chan." I waved at her as she walked away, then headed back to the dorm.

* * *

Nothing of note happened that evening, so I just went to bed. School was dull the next day, and Mitsuru showed up after class and told us to head up to the command room because Sketchtsuki wanted to chat then turned and left. I hung around the school a little bit, but didn't really want to talk to anyone so I just headed back to the dorm.

I got there a- Holy shit, that is a seriously badass dog! It's a white Shiba Inu(I think. the little guy's too small to be a Husky) with red eyes. He's also got Yukari and Fuuka playing with him.

"Koro-chan, give me your paw!" said Fuuka. 'Koro-chan' obiediently oblidged and put his paw in her hand.

Yukari let out an affectioned squeal. "Oooh, good dod!" she patted 'Koro-chan' on the head, then Fuuka noticed me.

"Oh, hi."

"Hey, you're back!" I'm so glad you care, Yukari. Oh wait, no I'm not.

"Mind if I pet him?" I asked. I'm honestly more of a cat person, but I do like dogs. Especially badass ones.

'Koro-chan' looked at me with a tilted head, then looked back at Fuuka.

"It's okay, Koro-chan." She smiled. "Go say hi!"

The dog walked over and sat down infront of me. Smart little guy.

"His name's Koromaru." Fuuka reported. "I've seen him sitting by the steps of the shrine."

Before I could say anything, another dog appeared and barks a few times. A woman, presumably its owner, walks up a moment later. "Oh... This dog still goes on walks all by himself?"

The three of us looked at each other, then back at the woman.

"Whaddya mean?" Good question, Yukari.

"He used to belong to the priest at Naganaki Shrine." she replied. "Every afternoon, the two of them went this way for a walk."

"Wait, you said 'used to'." I pointed out. "What happened?"

"The priest passed away."

I heard Koromaru whimper slightly.

"He passed away...?"

"Oh, you haven't heard the story?" We shook our heads. "It was about six months ago... The priest was hit by a car while walking his dog. He didn't survive." I flinched. "Ever since then, that dog sits patiently by the site of the accident and he even goes for a walk every day, just like when his owner was still alive..."

I looked down at Koromaru. He didn't look all that happy.

"Oh shoot, I have to get going!" The lady proclaimed, starting away from us with her dog. "My son will be back soon!"

She left, and me 'n the girls turned to Koromaru.

"Aww, you're such a loyal dog!" Yukari chirped, leaning down and patting Koromaru on the head. "Good boy!"

"Good dog." I said, getting down on one knee and scratching Koromaru behind the ear.

_'Whoa, what in the hell?'_

I raised an eyebrow visibly and looked up and off to the side. What's up, Shade?

_'Look at Koromaru again.'_

I looked at Koromaru. Strength Arcana. Wait, Strength Arcana?

_'Holy shit, that dog has a Persona.'_

Best. Dog. **EVER.**

Koromaru barked and wagged his tail. Guess that compliment got through to him dispite me not saying it out loud.

"...Huh?" Fuuka suddenly had a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?" Yukari looked at her as Koromaru wandered off.

Fuuka shook her head. "...Oh, nothing... Sorry." She stood up. "Wait, isn't the chairman coming today? Then we should go get ready."

"Oh, you're right!" Yukari said before rushing inside. I looked at Fuuka.

"You felt it too, huh?"

She gave me a confused look. "Felt what?"

"Koromaru." I explained. "I think he's got a Persona."

Her eyes widened.

"I'm not sure about that, though." I lied. I'm totally sure. "So let's keep it between us for now. Just make sure you scan to make sure he's okay every now and then, alright?"

Fuuka nodded. "Okay."

* * *

We headed up to the command room and waited for Sketchtsuki. He showed up with a swagger in his step and a smirk on his face.

"Hello, everyone." He greeted. "I wanted to let you know how my research has been going. This concerns those Shadows that have been appearing durring full moons. I want you to listen closely; it might be hard to follow." I really doubt that. "Shadows can be divided into twelve categories, according to their characteristics. This, we've known for a while."

"Short version!" I proclaimed, cutting him off. "There's twelve big ones total, and we've killed four of them already. Next one we should be up against is the Hierophant, then seven more after that." I yawned slightly. "Next time tell us something that isn't stupidly obvious, bossman."

Pretty sure he's glaring at me now. Don't care!

"Okay, but what are they after?"

"...That's a good question, and that's what we haven't figured out yet: Their motive." mused Sketchtsuki. "They don't kill their prey; they feed on their minds. It can be considered predation, but is it really?" His expression became more serious. "Is there an underlying intent behind their behavior? The purpose of the Shadows as a whole... That's what we need to consider."

Akihiko shrugged. "This is interesting, but, no metter what, we still have to beat the rest of 'em."

"Agreed." I stated. "It's basicly all we can do."

"Eight more, huh?" Yukari does not sound happy. "Lucky us."

"According to the data, each one has been stronger than the last, so we better start training harder..." Fuuka said grimly.

"We'll manage." Akihiko scoffed. "We've got plenty of time."

Yukari leaned forward slightly. "What about Tartarus? Why does it even exist...?"

I noticed Mitsuru flinch next to me. That always seems to happen when Tartarus' origin is brought up. That's... not good. At all.

* * *

I wasn't up for Tartarus that night, so I just went to bed. It's Sunday now, so I decided to check on Ms. Toriumi on Innocent Sin. Haven't actually talked to her in a while.

[i hope tatsuya gets here soon _]

Ah, there she is. Looks like she didn't notice me log in.

[i'm not even complaining today or ne thing... so rare =P] I've heard of talking to yourself, but typing? That's actually hilarious. [but i hate to tell tatsu cuz he's my MMO partner! i'll be brave -_-;;] Ah, i think she's trying to psyche herself up a bit. [*^_^* ...i'm so lame! i'm blushing for reals! oh noes... now i'm starting to get sweaty...]

Okay, DYNAMIC ENTRY TIME. I ran my character over to where she was and hand him jump infront over here. [Hey Maya! Talking to yourself?]

[ZOMG!] Her character did a surprised emote. [...erm, sry ^^;;; i was kinda spaced out o_O]

[It's cool.] My guy shrugged. [So what'd you wanna tell me?]

[well i'm kinda..."interested" in sumone from school _] Her character absently kicked at the ground. [he's kinda a teenager tho xD] She recoiled in surprised agian [OMG i said it!1 O_O;; ;P none of the male teachers r even in my league, so i gave up looking for b/fs work] she giggled. [i never thought i'd fall for a student!] her character bounced up and down excitedly. Yeah, I know, there's a LOT of emotes in this game. [goin' for younger guys is kinda new for me _]

[What's he like?] I asked. [And how'd you end up having a thing for him?]

[hmm... he's kinda tall 'n a little quiet, but real mature an serious looking (and hawt) ;P] her character emoted again. [an i wuz talkin' to him the other day after i bumped into him near the station. he's one of my students! =x] She glanced around slightly. [he jus transferred in this year after his parents died (i will comfort him!) maybe i can abuse my power and convince him i'm a guidance counselor _]

Wait a minute, that sounds really familiar...

[oh btw, u don't need to be jealous he's just sumone i like, rite? tatsuya is the only game partner for maya ^^; no worries]

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana._

[i haven't made my appt yet, but i'm going to a salon *_*] Her character struck a pose. [Roy-kun will fall in love w/ me before the weekend] WHAT [alrighty tatsuya, i gtg let's think positive!]

Maya logged off. And my jaw is threatening to unhinge itself from my face.

_'Your teacher... has a crush on you...'_

This is Japan and they are weird like that This is JAPAN and they are WEIRD LIKE THAT** _THIS IS JAPAN AND THEY ARE WEIRD LIKE THAT_**

_'Uh, dude, Japan actually _doesn't_ approve of teacher-student relationships.'_

**OH MY GOD _DO NOT WANT AUGH!_**

* * *

One complete psychological meltdown later, I went to bed. Got up and headed to school the next morning. Bumped into Yukari at the gates for the first time in a while. She mentioned how the whole talk about the Shadows a couple nights back was bugging the hell out of her, but I mostly brushed it off. Chances are good we'll find out eventually. Apart from that chat and Ms. Toriumi's very evident haircut school was pretty boring(and thankfully she didn't try hitting one me). I dodged my fangirls(apparently I'm just that awesome at Tennis or something, I honestly don't wanna think about it) and bumped into Akihiko. He was lookin' fer a training buddy, so I agreed to go with him and once we escaped the school without a horde following us, we took off on a jog and wound up at Naganaki Shrine.

"Let's... take a short break..." he gasped, sitting on a bench near the slide. Don't see Maiko around today. "Heh, the wind's starting to pick up..."

"Yeah... feels nice after joggin' the whole way here..." I commented as I flopped down on the bench as well.

"It feels nice..." Akihiko said. "I usually train in the club room or alone in my own room at the dorm..."

"You want a training partner?" I asked with a smirk. "I mean sure, I got a buncha stuff to do, but I can spare some time."

"That'd be great." he replied. "But if you join me, we're goning to do more than just run every day, got it?"

"I gotcha, man." I said, waving my hand dismissively.

"I should've changed into my workout gear..." grumbled Akihiko. "I thought this would just be a light run for fun, but I'm drenched in sweat..."

"I'm okay." I replied with a shrug. "Of course I kinda used a Sukukaja on myself to make the pace a little easier."

"Hey, no fair!" He complained, punching me in the arm. "That's cheating!"

The two of us laughed at that a little, then I noticed him looking around.

"Maiko-chan isn't here today..." he noted.

"She's probably packing up her stuff." I said. "She's gonna be moving away soon."

"Really?" Akihiko frowned slightly. "That's a shame. She seems like a nice kid."

I sighed. "I know. Hey, if I can find out when she's leaving, maybe you could tag along and see her off with me."

"I'll hold you to that." He smirked.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

"Alright then." I replied, standing up. "C'mon, race you to the dorm without a Sukukaja boost! Loser buys the winner a special at Hagkure!"

"You're on!"

* * *

We got back to the dorm at the same time, so we ended up just agreeing to head to Hagakure sometime for the hell of it. Had a quick romp through Tartarus that night on the floors after the highest Guardian. We ran through them a few times, then called it quits and went home. Nothing really happened the next day(except my members of my fangirl horde stalking me a few times). I spent some time with Maiko after school and found out she's moving on Saturday, so the last time we'd get to talk would be on Friday. Told her I'd bring a few friends of mine along and she was all kinds of happy. I don't even care I didn't boost the link, because damn it I'm making this poor little girl happy.

When I got back to the dorm, everyone was there and just hangin' out. Except Akihiko. I shrugged, then sat down and started sketching for the hell of it.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru said. "We have two weeks until the moon is full again. Please try to increase your strength as much as possible before then."

"Two weeks, huh?" Junpei mused. "I wonder what it'll look like this time... I have to admit, the suspense is killing me..."

"You're starting to sound like Akihiko." Mitsuru commented with a smirk before getting serious again. "Just remember, this is not a joke. That reminds me... Why is he not back yet?"

"I dunno." I said with a shrug, not looking up from my sketch. Randomly felt like drawing a robot.

"He's prolly eating or somethin'." Junpei suggested. Probably didn't look up from the magazine he's reading either.

About twenty minutes later, the door to the dorm opened.

"Hey, where've you be-" I began, but stopped when I saw Akihiko.

Or rather, when I saw who was there with him.

"Aragaki?" Mitsuru stammered in surprise. "I didn't expect to see you..."

"What're you doin' here, Senpai?" Junpei asked, equally surprised.

"He said he wants to help us again." Akihiko informed us. He looked just as stunned as everyone else, while Shinjiro was scanning the room.

"Wait, really?" Thank you for asking that for me, Yukari.

"Yeah, really." Shinjiro grunted. "That a problem?"

"Not at all..." said Mitsuru. "But, may I ask what brought this about?"

"Finally cleared my head." He replied. "Just needed a little help was all."

I think he means me. Wow, did my horrible attempt at a pep talk actually work on him?

_'I guess it did.'_

That's... actually an accomplishment for me. And I didn't really have a reason behind it other then I was slightly disgruntled about his whole situation. Anyways, time to be professional about this.

"So Shinjiro, I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"What's your weapon of choice to slaughter Shadows with?"

"Anything big and heavy I can get my hands on." he replied. "Preferably Axes or Hammers."

Oh fuck yes. "Alright, you're coming with me to see Officer Kurosawa tomorrow so we can get you equiped."

"Tch. Whatever."

* * *

Author Notes - Here's my Christmas gift to anyone who actually reads this story! SHINJIRO'S BACK! And no, before anyone says ANYTHING, I actually have a plan for this development and am not just trying to rip off what the Fairly English Story did. I'm taking a completely different direction with Shinjiro then SamJaz did(At least I hope I am) so just sit back and enjoy the story.

Also, it occured to me Igor and Elizabeth haven't gotten that much focus in a while, so they'll show up again sometime soon. And don't worry, we haven't seen the last of the Reaper or the Tower Social Link, either!


	17. Guess who's back?

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner!

**Jranz** - Yeah... not gonna happen.

* * *

Before I went to bed, I heard Mitsuru basicly tell Shinjiro if he wanted to stay in the dorm, he was going to go back to school. He just 'Tch'd' at her and then walked away. I don't think she intimidates him, but he might still go through with it just to avoid pissing her off. I can't be sure, it's kinda hard to get a read on the guy when the limit of your understanding of psychology only makes you a human lie detector(which is handy for playing Poker, by the way).

Walked to school with Junpei the next morning, and something seemed to be buggin' him.

"Hey, Roy..." He said suddenly. "Is it just me, or has Yuka-tan been acting weird lately?"

"Weird how?" I asked. "Like, weirder then normal? Because she has seemed kinda... I dunno, quieter ever sense the Chairman told us how many big shadows were left."

"You noticed it too?" Junpei seemed surprised. "But yeah, she's been thinking way too hard about Tartarus n' stuff. I mean, who cares? Right?"

"Nah, it could be important, man." I told him. "But I say we just let her worry about it. If she finds anything out, she'll let us know, so whatever."

"Yeah." He agreed with a smirk.

* * *

Hung out at Fashion club after class. Andre hit me up for an idea about something to make, and I suggested something traditional, which prompted Hamuko to chime in with the suggestion of a Kimono. He was estactic about the prospect, dispite the apparent level of difficulty(I wouldn't know because I don't intend on ever making one). I think the encouragement I gave him helped and as a side effect I got some Link Boostage.

Anywho, I stopped by the dorm to get Shinjiro(who was grumbling about Mitsuru having done something when I got there) and then we headed to Paulowania Mall to get him equipped. Kurosawa was mildly surprised, but dug through his stock to find a mighty axe for Shinjiro to slay things with. He eventually got us one as well as new armor for the whole team, then we headed back to the dorm because we are going to Tartarus tonight so I can see exactly how brutally Shinjiro can savage Shadows.

"OKAY!" I proclaimed once we were in Tartarus. "All three SEES Vetrans are coming up with me tonight, so Yukari and Junpei are gonna stay down here and keep Fuuka company."

"And why exactly is that?" Mitsuru asked with a pointed look.

"You two have worked with Shinjiro in the past, so it saves time getting him back into the swing of things." I replied with a shrug. "Once he's re-broken in, then I'll start switching it up. But for now, let's move."

I turned around and sauntered towards to the Teleporter. I stopped and looked back. "C'mon, we got two weeks till the next full moon and I wanna see Shadows fleeing in fear of how awesome we are."

* * *

I think this is the luckiest, or unluckiest, night at Tartarus we've ever had. Floor after floor, We're only finding Gigas. And Shinjiro is going toe-to-toe with them and crushing their heads with his freaking axe if he's not smashing them into walls with his fist, having Castor ram them, or drop kicking them into each other. It's AWESOME.

"Adios, Asshole." **CRA-_WHAM_**

Scratch that. It is the single most awesomely badass thing I've seen in my life so far.

* * *

As we left Tartarus after Shinjiro finished sharpening his Axe on Gigas masks(not kidding either, he actually said that's what he was doing) I realized something. Ever sense I tripped the Tower Link, the Reaper hasn't showed up basicly at all to try and kill us. Though at the rate we go through floors at this point, he probably hasn't had much reason to step in and un-bored himself. I honestly don't know.

Anyways, after that I obviously went to bed once we were back at the dorm. After school, I headed to Art Club. I just sat in a corner and worked on a sketch I'd begun durring Ekoda's lesson(because I could). I looked over at Fuuka and she was rubbing her head and grimacing. I stood up and walked over.

"What's the matter?" I asked. She looked up at me and sighed.

"This has been happening to me a lot lately..." She said. "I just have a little headache... It's no big deal, really..."

"You should really determine the cause of your headache." HOLY FUCKING SHIT NINJA KEISUKE! "It could lead to further lead to further complications down the road." He moved a little closer to Fuuka. "Where are you experiencing the pain? Is it on one or both sides of your head?"

I took a few steps back as Keisuke started grilling her for details. I heard someone sigh next to me and looked over at the club member I was unknowingly standing next to.

"Keisuke-senpai's playing doctor again..." she complained. "Looks like Fuuka-san's not going anywhere for a while..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Playing doctor?"

"Yeah, if someone isn't feeling well, Keisuke-senpai always tries to figure out what's wrong with them." She explained. "It doesn't matter when or where, either, and he doesn't stop until he knows exactly what it is. Sometimes it takes forever..." She sighed again and shook her head. "Keisuke-senpai's father is the director of a large hospital. I guess he just can't stand to see people in pain." She smirked. "I be he'll go to medical school and become a doctor."

I looked back over at Keisuke and Fuuka, the latter having turned around in her seat as the former inspected the back of her head.

"What you're suffering from is known as a chronic tension-type headache, most likely as a result of stress." He said. "You must be spending too much time in front of the computer. You should get outside and exercise more." He chuckled slightly. "That advice must sound funny coming from the leader of the Art Club..."

Fuuka turned around and seemed relieved. "I thought I might have come down with the flu or something..."

"Well, if you're worried about that, I should perform a more detailed examination." Keisuke said, his usual grin widening. "Please remove your shirt, open your mouth, and stick out your tongue..."

Fuuka's face was redder then an Ace of Hearts. "U-Uh, that's okay. I'm fine!" She looked in my direction. "Anyways, my dorm is close by and my dorm mate Roy-kun is here."

Keisuke looked at me in surprise. "You guys are dorm mates?" I nodded. "Wow, I can see how Fuuka lives in the dorm. I mean, she's a girl so she knows how to cook and clean..."

'Clean? Probably, but so does everyone else. Cook? Not bloody likely.' Quiet, Shade.

"But what about you, Roy-kun?" He gave me a confused look. "Isn't it hard living on your own?"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

"...Oh, sorry Fuuka-san!" Keisuke turned around to look at her. "I completely forgot about you... Now, reguarding your headache, I don't think you should be walking home. Why don't I call you a taxi?"

"She'll be fine, Keisuke." I said. "We're going the same way so I'll just walk with her." I looked at Fuuka. "That okay with you?"

She nodded. "Mmhm."

I smirked. "Cool."

* * *

Went back to the dorm with Fuuka and nothing much happened apart from her asking me to try her cooking tomorrow at lunch. She can't have done worse then last time, so I agreed to it and she seemed happy.

Next day rolled around and I met up with her on the roof at lunch.

"Alright, let's have it!" I said, rubbing my hands together. Fuuka pulled out the bento and handed it to me. Hey, it certainly LOOKS more apetizing then last time.

"I think it'll taste better than last time..." She said with a smile. "At least, it can't be any worse, right?"

"Very true." I commented, about to take a bite when a soft meow drew our attention. KITTY!

"Oh, a kitty cat! Aw, he's so cute..." Cuteness Proximity is in effect. I know it is, but I can't help myself! It's a kitty and it's sitting there! HI KITTY! "He looks hungry, doesn't he?" Fuuka kneeled down on the ground. "Here, kitty kitty..." The cat slowly approached Fuuka. "Maybe I should give him some food." She looked up at me. "What do you think, Roy-kun?"

I smirked and handed her the bento. "Sure."

She smiled back at me. "I was hoping you'd say that." She held the bento down near the cat. It sniffed it, then hissed and ran way.

"Huh?" Fuuka looked confused. "Wh-What happened...?" Her eyes slowly moved downward to examine the lunchbox. "Wait, was it the food...?" She took the chopsticks from me and tried some of it herself, coughing a few times once she finished it. "Ew... this tates terrible!" She sighed sadly. "I must have left it out too long..." Fuuka stood up. "S-Sorry, Roy-kun... please don't eat any of thi-"

"YOINK!" I shouted, snatching the bento from her and producing another set of chopsticks from my jacket. "I'll be the judge of that!" I quickly took a bite of what she made before she could try and stop me. My eyes shot wide and I had to force myself to swallow. "Oh jeez... I should have listened..."

I coughed a few times. It was worse then I expected.

"A-Are you okay?" Fuuka walked over to me carefully with a worried expression.

"I'll be fine." I stated. "I've still had worse then that."

Fuuka sighed. "I'm sorry... I just want to help everyone, even outside of battle..." She sat next to me and looked at her feet. "And there aren't many chances to eat homemade food when you live in the dorm, so I thought it would be nice to make lunch for everyone but..." She sighed again. "I need to get better at cooking..." Fuuka looked at me. "Maybe with your help, Roy-kun, I can."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

Whoop de do.

_'You sound apathetic.'_

Shaddup.

"It's kind of hard for me to say this after all that's happened, but... I'd be happy if you'd be willing to taste test my food again."

"No problem." I replied, handing her back the bento. "I don't mind."

She smiled. "Thank you, Roy-kun." She stood up. "Well, I'll see you later." She bowed slightly, then headed off to class(and likely to dispose of the lunchbox). I followed suit a few moments later.

* * *

After school, I grabbed Akihiko and once we managed to ninja past our fangirls(Seriously, WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE FANGIRLS?) we headed out to the shrine to see Maiko.

"Hiya Hat-kun! Hiya Grey-kun!" greeted the little girl as the two of us approached. "Let's play on the jungle gum!" She bounced up and down excitedly. "Then the see-saw, Kick the Can, we can play 'em all!"

"Alright alright, simmer down, Maiko-chan!"

* * *

We played for a while. Seeing Akihiko loose to a Second Grader at climbing a jungle gym is still funny. Eventually, the three of us were sitting atop the jungle gym just relaxing.

"Whew..." Maiko sighed contently. "I'm tired." She giggled. "We played enough for you to remember me, right?" She looked at me with a sad smile. "Don't forget." She sighed and looked down as she absently swung her short legs. "I'm leaving today... an' Dad said, even though we're far away, we're still family." She looked back at me. "I think that should go for friends like you and me, too, so I don't have to be sad."

"I think so too." I smirked, snatching the hat off her head and ruffling her hair a little before giving it back. She really likes that fedora I gave her. Even went so far as to tuck an Ace of Hearts into the band on it, probably to be more like me.

She giggled and pushed my hand away, then gazed out towards the city. "I think family is important." She looked back at me. "Do you think I'll have a family of my own one day?"

"I bet you will." Akihiko said, his lips curled into a sad smirk.

"I agree." I added. Maiko beamed.

"I sure will!" She explaimed proudly, then she fell silent and blushed slightly. "So, um... Hat-kun..."

I turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"When I'm grown up..." She began nervously. "Can we be a mom and dad together?"

My eyes went wide as Akihiko tried his damnedest to not burst out laughing. Shade was busy busting a gut in my brain, though. Bastard.

"I'll have to think about it..." I replied, looking away and scratching my cheek with one finger. I felt my face heating up slightly.

"But you must!" Maiko protested. "We're supposed to get married some day!" She huffed a little, then dug in her pocket for something. "But keep this, okay?" She handed me a ring made of little beads.

"I... made it just for you..." I looked back at her and she was blushing again. "...'Cause one day, we'll be trading vows, right?"

I just smiled and closed my hand around the ring, a small smile on my face.

**CRASH**

_Thou art I... And I am thou..._

Huh. Got another one of these...

_The bond thou has nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Hanged Man Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Attis, the ultimate form of the Hanged Man Arcana... This bond you have forged will never be broken..._

"Close your eyes, 'kay?"

I raised an eyebrow, but did as instructed. "Okay, so now wha-"

I felt something brush against my cheek softly, causing me to open my eyes in time to see Maiko scrambling down the jungle gym, then take a few steps away and look back at me. I can hear Akihiko's smirk as Shade continues to be a hyena inside my head.

"Don't get cold feet!" Maiko called out with a giggle in her voice. "You can't forget me, okay?"

"O-Okay..." I called back. Maiko giggled again, then gave me a salute with two fingers.

"Later Days, Hat-kun!" She exclaimed before running off. Shade finally shut up and a large silence fell over me and Akihiko.

"So..." He began with a smirk. "Engauged and not even out of High School?"

"Oh shut up." I growled, then I hopped off the jungle gym. "So whadda wanna do now?"

Akihiko came down as well. "I'm kinda hungry. You wanna go get somethin' to eat before we head back?"

"Sure. Where to?"

* * *

"I've been wanting to come here, actually." I remarked as we climbed the stairs up to the Beef Bowl shop at the Iwatodai Strip Mall. "Never found a good enough excuse before now, though."

"You'll like it." Akihiko assured me. "It's great. The servings are big, and the sauce they use on the meat is just-"

"Akihiko-senpai!" "Roy-kun!"

Just as the two of us got to the level the shop was on, two girls came rushing towards us and started violating our personal space. I recognise one as Kaede, one of the members of Art Club, and the other one as a member of the horde I was dodging most of the day. Almost didn't recognise them without the school uniform on.

"Akihiko-senpai, what're you doing here?" Cooed Kaede sweetly, totally trying to act like she wasn't staking this place out waiting for him.

"Oh, I know!" exclaimed the other girl who was desperately trying to draw my attention to her curves in a way she assumed would look like she though I wouldn't think that's what she was trying to do. "You and Roy-kun are here for the beef bowls, right? It's so funny that you're always eating here!"

"What's funny about that?" both me and Akihiko asked in unison, though likely for differing reasons that still boiled down to confusion.

"It means that you're totally cool." Kaede stated matter-of-factly.

I just raised an eyebrow while Akihiko looked moderately annoyed.

"Look, can you get out of the way, please?" He asked. "We can't get it."

"Hey, hey, you two don't have girlfriends, right?" inquired the other girl, completely ignoring Akihiko's question.

He blinked in confusion. "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah." affirmed Kaede. "We're totally looking for guys to be with right now."

"Whatever, I don't care." I grunted. "Let's go, Senpai. I'm starving."

"Yeah." He agreed before we carefully shoved past the two of them and went into the shop.

* * *

"What was that about?" He asked after we sat down and ordered. "You were pretty blunt with them."

I sighed. "I had a small group of fans back in 9th grade. Very small, only about six or seven girls. They'd all basicly take turns following me around or trying to ask me out." I adjusted my hat slightly. "Those two outside and the hordes who stalk us at school act the same way."

"How so?"

"They focus on what they can see." I replied. "How many of either of our obnoxious fans do you think know anything about us apart from how we behave at school and things they've seen us doing? How many have actually taken the time to try to understand you?"

Akihiko was silent. He folded his arms and appeared to be deep in thought.

"Yeah, if you have to think about it, then it probably hasn't happened." I stated. "Sorry if I seemed rude with them, but the kind of behavior they display really irks me."

"I can understand that." He agreed with a sigh.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

"Order up!" said the waiter as our food was set down infront of us.

"Itadakimasu." I muttered, then dug into my beef bowl. I started chewing and my eyes went wide. Holy shit this is awesome. "Dude... this is great..."

"I know, right?" Akihiko was smirking as he started chowing down as well.

* * *

Me 'n Aki had a casual chat as we ate our epic beef bowls of deliciousness, then headed back to the dorm kinda late. I was still looking for something to do, so I ended up heading to the mall. Found Tanaka there and, as per usual whenever I run into him, we got to talking.

"Um, today we'll talk about..." He began, then he violently shook his head. "Oh dear me, I-I just can't concentrate. I get so worked up when I picture his face!"

The hell? "Who're you talking about?"

"One of my employees." sighed Tanaka. "I suppose I should have seen it coming..." He shook his head again, but much more slowly. "There was a young man who was working for me, good kid who graduated from a well-known university, but this month, he wasn't able to meet his sales quota, so I docked his pay." He sighed again. "After that, his self-confidence went down the drain, then eventually he just stopped coming to work."

"Ouch." I winced. "I feel sorry for the guy."

"What are you talking about?" Tanaka snapped. "You should feel sorry for me!" He grumbled. "I just mailed him a dismissal notice, C.O.D. It's his fault that the company is in the red this month!"

I should mention that I'm barely keeping myself from strangling this bastard right now. I'm actually impressed by my self-restraint.

"All that money I wasted on training him..." He shivered. "It makes me sick just thinking about it..."

I gave him a flat look. "Is it always about money with you, man?"

"Of course!" he proclaimed. "I love money. Money won't betray me like he did." Tanaka crossed his arms and sighed. "It's difficult growing up with no money... when you can't even afford shoes for PE class!" Eh? "Going barefoot in the gym durring winter can be a torture!"

Wait, is he speaking from experience? That's actually surprising...

"I've been thinking..." He looked at me. "How would you like to model exclusively for my company?" No. "Your innocent appearance would be perfect for camoulaging the ugly realities of buisness!" He smirked. "Think about it, will you? You won't ever have to worry about being able to buy shoes for PE."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

"Oopsies, I better get back to work." Tanka said, looking at his watch. "I have to re-evaluate the budget, seeing as if I hire someone new, it'll cost a fortune to train them."

"Later, Tanaka." I said as he walked away. He waved back over his shoulder absently. Weird guy.

* * *

In breaking my morning routine on the way to school the next day, I kept my headphones off. I just don't really feel like listening to music right now.

"Hey, did you hear about all those people who were found unconscious recently?" My attention turned to a pair of girls who were standing about two feet away from me and gossiping. "I guess they were all in pairs."

"What, like they were attempting a double suicide?"

The first girl shook her head. "I don't know, but if I could pass out with someone I liked, I wouldn't mind being unconcious!"

"I would mind!" her friend snapped back. Ignoring the rest of their conversation, I resumed walking into the school. Something about the story was bugging me a little, though. To my surprise, I encountered Shinjiro at the shoe lockers. Damn, it's weird seeing him wearing the school uniform. Still got his beanie, though.

"Mornin' Shinjiro." I greeted as I changed my shoes.

"You always loose with formalities like that?"

I shrugged. "Got sick of having to remember honorifics, so I just gave up over a month ago. That a problem?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm not big on people being formal with me anyways. It bugs me."

"Erright, just checkin'." I replied as we started towards the stairs. I looked at Shinjiro and smirked. "Castor's looking better."

Remember how I said Shinjiro's Persona felt weird to me? Well, it doesn't anymore. Feels more like it should now.

"Took your words to heart." state the senior. "Stopped letting the past rule my actions."

"Good for you, but I actually didn't think anything I said would make any big changes." I laughed. "But eh. We got ten days till the next operation. You ready?"

Shinjiro scoffed slightly.

"I'll take that as a yes." I shrugged as I started towards my classroom. "Catch ya later!"

* * *

I actually had nothing to do after school, so I grabbed Junpei and Kaz and headed to the Arcade. For a guy with his leg in a cast, Kaz is surprisingly good at DDR. Junpei found that out the hard way. I laughed, then got decimated by him at BlazBlue. I of course went right around and schooled them both at this one mech piloting game that's freaking awesome. Forget the name of it.

Once we were done beating each other at vidja gamez, Junpei 'n Me went back to the dorm as Kaz went home. Nothing else worth mentioning happened at the dorm, or the entirety of Sunday because I wasn't in much of an MMO mood, so on Monday I got to walk to school with Yukari. Joy.

"Ya know, in about a week, there'll be another mission..."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"I wonder what it'll be like this time..." Yukari mused.

"Not pleasent, that's for damn sure." I winced. "But I'd say we're more then ready. Probably hit Tartarus sometime this week to make sure we don't get rusty before the fight."

Yukari sighed. "I guess we'll keep fighting until we defeat all eight that are left." She looked at me. "But, what are we gonna do after that? I've been thinking about this for a while. I wonder if MItsuru-senpai is hiding something from us..."

"If you think there's something she's not telling you, just ask her." I said bluntly. "Don't just snoop around behind her back, go up to her face and ask. Is it really that hard a concept for people to grasp?" I sighed. "Ya know what, forget it. Let's just focus on killing these things."

"Alright..."

* * *

Author Notes: Next chapter should be the last week before the July 7th Full Moon. Got some interaction with Roy and Shinjiro this chapter, and maxxed out the Hanged Man link. Without a doubt, the Velvet Room will come up next chapter. Then Chapter 19 should be the Full Moon! That's gonna be FUUUUUUUUN. Mwehehehehe.


	18. Home Run Kill Spikes

Rest of the day was borring, so I went to Student Council after class. Hidetoshi wanted to talk about the cigarette incident again. Mainly that the teacher who got his help was demanding the dude get expelled. I thought it was kinda harsh, and he agreed. Hide seemed kinda torn up, though, when he started trying to sort out the morality of the situation, but he was fine a moment later and went off to review his suspect list. I just went back to the dorm after that.

When I got there, I told Fuuka to pass on the message that we're heading to Tartarus on Wednesday for a quick run. Got my 360 and ended up playing through most of Halo 3's campaign with Junpei. He was better then I expected. Especially when he got ahold of any sort of weapon with a scope. I mean, holy shit, it was headshot-a-palooza when he had something with a scope. Even if it was just the pistol. Obviously it was awesome.

Next day was dull, but I stopped by Tennis Club and got in some practicing in to take my mind off things. Nothing happened at the dorm, either, at least not until the Dark Hour.

"Hi."

I turned in my chair to see Pharos sitting on my bed. I was actually about to get some sleep when the Dark Hour hit.

"Hey Pharos." I greeted. "Here to mention the Full Moon next week?"

He chuckled. "You're used to it by now, huh?"

"Pretty much." I replied.

"Perhaps you should look into the details about the Lost." Pharos suggested as he hopped up. "That way you can be most prepared for what is to come."

Details... Wait... "You mean the fact they've been turning up in pairs lately?"

He grinned. "I'll come again when it's over." He walked towards my door. "Good night." Then he went THROUGH the door.

Oh god damn it, I keep forgetting to ask him how he does that vanishing act! Ah, the fuck with it. It doesn't matter anymore. I'll just got to bed... sleep good...

* * *

I encountered Mitsuru on the way to school the next morning.

"Mornin' Senpai." I said.

"Good morning." She replied. "The full moon is almost upon us... Are you prepared?"

"To an extent." I told her. "We're gonna hit Tartarus tonight to make sure we're all in top form, then take it easy till the Operation."

"Very well." Mitsuru commented. "According to the cycle, it should appear on July 7th at midnight, six days from now. And remember, incidents increase when a full moon is near, so remain alert at all times."

July 7th... Something special about tha- Wait a second... "The next operation is on the day of the Star Festival?" Mitsuru nodded. "Oh hell, this is bad..."

She seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know how the Lost have been turning up in pairs lately?" She nodded again, still confused. "Well, it's not just any pairs. It's couples." I explained. "Now going by the numerical order of Tarot Arcana, our next Shadow's Arcana should be Heirophant, but Heirophant doesn't deal with anything related to couples. Lovers, the Arcana that comes afterwards, does."

Mitsuru's visible eye widened. "Do you think there will be two Shadows again?"

"It's a possibility." I stated. "We're gonna need to be very careful how we approach this if that's the case."

She nodded grimly. I'm not happy about the prospect of fighting two Shadows at once again, but I suppose all we can do is wait to see how it goes.

* * *

Ended up just hanging around at the dorm for lack of anything to do. Junpei 'n me tag-teamed on Halo 3's multiplayer for a while until it was time to hit Tartarus. The run was pretty short, a couple runs up to the barrier, nothing really big.

Next day was dull, but I stopped by Fashion club and chatted with Andre and Hamuko. Day after that I hung out at Art Club. Apparently there's a big art competition and most of the other members submitted stuff for it, so that was cool. Ended up walking back to the dorm with Fuuka, but again, nothing big.

Ran into Yukari on Saturday and she seemed nervous. I got her to calm down a bit. Now it's Sunday, and I'm walking around town. I haven't really stopped in the Velvet Room for a while, so I'm actually heading there now.

_'Yeah, the 'sonas you got have been in your brain for like what, three weeks?'_

Something there abouts. Probably wouldn't hurt to cash in for some new ones.

* * *

"Hey Igor." I said as I walked in. "Hey Elizabeth."

"Greetings, my young friend." replied the master of the Velvet Room as I sat down. Shade's door appeared behind me, then he walked in as well. "How might we assist you today?"

"First, need some fusin'." I told him, setting down all my Persona cards on the table. "Second, I forgot to turn in some stuff for Elizabeth's requests the other day."

"Which of these Personae would you like to fuse together?" Igor asked as he took the cards while I pulled out the stuff Elizabeth asked for.

"Uh..." I tapped my chin as Elizabeth walked off to get me my rewards. "Basicly anything I can handle, with a prefrence for any Arcana I've got an established Social Link for."

"Very well..." Igor began his work on fusing the Personas just as I heard Eliz-

"What the hell is that?" I asked, pointing at what Elizabeth was holding.

"A weapon." She replied, holding up what looked like a wooden bat with a bunch of long nails driven through it. "I thought you might find it useful."

"Oh pimping sweet..." Shade commented with a grin.

* * *

So I got some stuff, but I'm mostly completely STOKED because of the bat she gave me. It's only slightly more powerful then my current set of gauntlets, but damn it I'm gonna use this thing because it's a bat with fucking nails in it and I REALLY wanna beat the next big Shadow in the FACE with this thing.

As for Personas, I'm rolling with Hua Po, High Pixie, Take-Mikazuchi, Power, Empusa, Pale Rider(freaking Epic Persona), Neko Shogun(pulled that one back out of the compendium), and Shiisa now. I can actually hold twelve Personae nowadays, which is neat, but I usually stick with any given bunch for a while unless I feel like I need to upgrade. But I don't really care, I've got a freaking spiked bat to kill Shadows with. I'm totally ready for the next operation!

_'You sound confident.'_

Very. Gotta be careful not to let my ego inflate too much, or bad shit's gonna happen...

_'Smart move.'_

Why thank you.

* * *

Nothing happened at the dorm that night, and so the next morning I walked to school with Junpei. He seemed stoked about the impending brawl. Good to hear, means he'll probably tear some heads off. Without warning, though, I got kiddnaped by Hamuko at lunch time and she dragged me up to the roof.

"Was grabbing my ear really nessicary?" I griped once she let go of me. "That hurts like hell you know."

"Yes, it was." She stated firmly, planting her hands on her hips. I swear, she's easily one of the most adorable girls I've ever met. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay, then talk."

"What can you tell me about Aragaki-senpai?"

I blinked in confusion. "Shinjiro?" She nodded. "Uh, not much beyond he's an old friend of Akihiko and Mitsuru-senpai. Why?"

Hamuko's face reddened slightly. "Well, um... it's just that.."

Oh you have GOT to be kidding me. There is no way. It's just not possible. I can understand Akihiko's fangirls because he's a jock and looks like he could be a shoujo manga love interest, but SHINJIRO? The dude exudes awesome badassitude and yet somehow, within his first week back to school after however long it's been sense he last attended, manages to turn HAMUKO of all people into his fangirl.

I sighed. "Look, if you want I can try talking to him sometime this week. After that, though, you should really go ask him instead of coming to me, alright?"

Her expression brightened and she nodded. "Okay. Thank you Roy-kun."

"No problem." I sighed. "But just this once. Never again, am I clear?"

She nodded again.

"Alright good." I frowned slightly. "And hey, if you don't mind me asking, why the sudden interest in Shinjiro?"

Hamuko's blush darkened. "Well, I-I wasn't paying attention to where I was going on Saturday and I tripped when I got to the stairs... a-and Aragaki-senpai caught me before I got hurt..." she put her hands together and tapped her index fingers. "He told me to be more careful... and I thanked him, but it seemed like he just ignored me before went to talk to Sanada-senpai..."

I raised an eyebrow. Damn Shinjiro, you have skills you're not even aware of. "That's it?"

She nodded slowly, her face steadily getting redder. I chuckled slightly.

"Okay then. Now c'mon, we should probably get back to class." I started towards the roof access door. "Ya know, after we get some food 'n stuff if we have the time."

Hamuko's blush lessened as she nodded in agreement and hurried after me.

* * *

In preperation for the full moon, I made a quick pitstop by the mall to check out new gear from Kurosawa. Got a few things, then stopped by the Antique shop and found out something crazy awesome.

You know those Fusion spell things I can use? Ya know, that I haven't mentioned in forever because the only one I know of requires Orpheus and Apsaras, both really weak Personas? Well, apparently the antique lady has all the fusion spells. In gem form. And will part with them for Tartarus gems.

You can bet your ass I stocked up on fuckin' Cadenzas. I didn't exactly question how she got them, figuring the explanation would be far to science-y for me to understand. I mean yeah, I'm pretty smart, but there is a limit to my genius. She also had Persona Skill cards- Really useful ones. Mostly support abilities, like skills that add resistances to Personas. I didn't have enough of the right gems to get anything really good from her, though I did snag this one skill called Regenerate 3. Basicly it acts like a Healing Factor of sorts. Shinjiro's Persona Castor has a weaker version of it, further adding to his cred as a supreme badass.

She also had this one card called 'Megidolaon', which apparently is a REALLY powerful skill that kills the shit out of everything forever with laser explosions. Sadly I couldn't get ahold of it due to lack of gems, but I now have a goal for myself: **GET MEGIDOLAON.**

I got back to the dorm later and dragged down my PS2 to play some Disgaea 2 because I didn't feel like over-hyping myself on adrenaline by playing Halo and didn't wanna get the 'Hey you sound like Axl' comments from Fuuka or Shinjiro if I fired up X8. I should really pick a game I enjoy that has a lot or replayability and just play THAT for months on end... Ah, what the hell ever. I've got other stuff to do!

_'Like ordering your horde of exploding penguins to attack the loli demon girl?'_

Exactly!

...Okay, I just now noticed, but Etna and Yukari? THEY SOUND ALOT ALIKE.

_'Oh god... I'm afraid of the implications.'_

You and me both, man...

* * *

Author Note: Short chapter is short(about 2000 words, tops) because I'm trying to space out his Social Links. And yes, I do enjoy making jokes about voice actor similarities(going by the english voices, naturally) because it's gotta be funny to SOMEBODY. Anyways, Next chapter will be longer to make up for the shortness of this one, AND THERE WILL BE AWESOME.

At least I hope their will be, but whatever! I'm posting this chapter at 1:33 AM so I'm tired and don't really care right now because I NEED TO GO TO BED. But before I do, hey, is it too much to ask for reviews? And from people who haven't reviewed before? No offence to anyone, but a bunch of reviews telling me I'm awesome does not help me much. I wanna know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, what I may need to fix, what I shouldn't need to fix, the whole nine yards. So if you're one of the bunch of people who're just following my story, could you PLEASE drop me at least one review? I really don't wanna beg like this, but it's making me nervous how I'm getting no commentary on the actual story.


	19. Two for one on Brainjacking

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Frost XZ -** I can kinda see what you mean on the lacking awesome for Roy. There hasn't been much chance to showcase his skills because I've kinda been skipping over a lot of Tartarus and have, so far, had five of his Social Links Max. It's basicly why I made the last chapter so short, because otherwise I'm going to run out of stuff I can use to write and REALLY have to improvise durring a point I really don't want to try improvising at(basicly anytime before Yakushima) if I can help it. And his Card Tricks are gonna start turning up again really soon. This chapter is LONG, by the way(6110+ words without review answering here and the author notes at the bottom) and is basicly the entire July 7th Full Moon. And I do hope you like the extreme infusion of awesome(I hope) that comes with this chapter.

**Jranz - **I've mentioned already that Roy sounds like Axl does in Megaman X8(and Megaman X: Command Mission). I don't know the voice actor's name of the top of my head, though. And if I had to turn a Social Link into a Persona user, I don't really know who I'd use, though I have entertained the idea of giving Mr. Edogawa a Persona(It'd be Merlin, by the way) for the lulz. And FUCK YES to Roy with a Lightsaber, but sadly I've never played Dead Rising 2 so I don't know how the whole thing works in that game, and, so far, all the games that Roy has mentioned he has are games that would actually exist at the time this takes place. And sure, I'll check out your story. Feel free to PM me with suggestions for ideas if you want, you may end up helping me come up with new ones. And yeah, I know what 'Ham' means.

**ShadowLucas15 - **I don't see a typo there, do you? Mwehehehehe...

**Fanfic Reader Guy - **Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude.

And now, LET THE FULL MOON OPERATION BEGIN!

* * *

It's the day of the Full Moon now. I'm in serious buisness mode this morning. And hey, I bumped into Fuuka on the train.

"Good morning, Roy-kun." She greeted with a small smile. "How are you feeling today?"

"Great." I replied with a smirk. "Fully prepaired for the operation."

Fuuka's eyes widened slightly. "Wow, you're amazing..." I chuckled a little. "We're going to have a quick meeting tonight about the operation. So, please retur to the dorm immediately after school."

"Alright." I nodded. "I'll tell Junpei and Yukari."

* * *

I passed on the message at lunch, then headed back to the dorm with Yukari, Junpei, and Fuuka once class was over. We spent the time until the Dark Hour going over battle plans(mostly ones that involved throwing me or Shinjiro at the Shadow until it died horribly) and making sure we were all properly suited up. Shinjiro's still not totally used to the Inventory Cards yet, but he's getting there.

Once the Dark Hour hit, Fuuka got to work and summoned Lucia to scan the city.

"Any luck, Fuuka?" asked Akihiko. Geez man, she's been at it for maybe two minutes. Calm down.

_{...Just a moment...}_ she replied telepathicly. _{I found it! I sense a strong presence!}_

"Hey, we were right!" cheered Junpei.

"Or so it would seem." stated Sketchtsuki.

_{It's located in Iwatodai... Inside a building on Shirakawa Boulevard.}_

"Hmm, Shirakawa Boulevard..." Sketchtsuki mused, tilting his head in a way that the moonlight through the window reflected off his glasses and made it hard to see his eyes. "They're been finding The Lost in pairs lately... Now I understand why."

"In pairs..." Shinjiro commented. "Oh, I get it..."

Lucia disappeared, then Fuuka looked at us in confusion.

"Why, what's on Shirakawa Boulevard?" She asked innocently. "I'm not familiar with that area..."

"I've heard about it..." Yukari replied hesitantly. "But..."

"That's where all THOSE hotels are." stated Junpei. "That explains a lot! You've heard about 'em, right Fuuka?" he grinned slightly. "Where people go to... you know..."

Oh god you have to be fucking kidding me. Fuuka's face turned red as a tomato and she looked down at her feet.

"Nonsense!" Sketchtsuki blurted out. "They're no different from ordinary hotels. The rooms are a bit fancier, that's all."

"Aw man, that's it?" Junpei is disappoint. But I have to ask something.

"Mr. Chairman, how do you know what the rooms are like?"

Everyone looked at Sketchtsuki.

"Yeah, how DO you know?" asked Akihiko.

"Well, uh..." Sketch's face drained of color. "You see, on a buisness trip I ended up having to book a cheap hotel and accidentally made arangements in one of those kinds of hotels by mistake..."

Shade, please point and laugh at him.

_'Sure thing.'_

"I don't know about this..." Yukari stammered nervously while Shade began laughing at Ikutsuki's misfortune for me. "Maybe I shouldn't go..."

Junpei smirked. "You're just like a little kid, Yuka-tan..."

"Wh-Whatever!" She snapped. "Fine, let's go. But this time, I want a piece of the action! So, who's gonna take the lead?"

"I don't see any reason to change leaders now." Mitsuru stated. "And Yamagishi, I want you to handle support durring the operation."

Fuuka nodded. "I'll do my best!"

"Alright, then I'll let you decide on the rest of the team." Akihiko said to me. "Let's do this."

"Erright." I looked over everyone else. "Mitsuru and Akihiko are coming in as well. If things start going sour, though, I want Shinjiro and Junpei to come bail us out. And if that happens, Fuuka, you should go with them and try to stay out of the Shadow's attacking range so we're not leaving you unguarded."

"Okay." She agreed.

"Let's begin the operation."

* * *

Shirakawa Boulevard is not a place I'm ever going to agree to visit ever again. It's the red light district of the city, and their are some WEIRD vending machines here. I don't even want to talk about them.

_'Then why did you bring them up?'_

Be quiet. So anywho, now we're at the location the Shadow's hiding in. It's a freaking Love Hotel. I'm not going to go into detail about what those are for, because honestly it should be obvious. And if it's not, well, you're better off.

"So Fuuka..." I said as I rested my new spiked bat on my shoulder in the lobby of the hotel. "What floor is the big boss on?"

_{It's on the third floor in a large room.}_ She's outside the hotel right now with Shinjiro and Junpei, by the way.

"Thankies." I replied as I started towards the stairs. "Alright, let's go."

I heard murmurs of agreement from behind me and footsteps. Once we got to the second floor, though, we heard something else.

Shadows. Little ones, but still there and still in dire need of getting fucked over with a spiked bat.

_'Go for it.'_

INDEED I WILL. "KILL THEM ALL!" I lept at one of the small shadows with the bat held over my head.

**WHAM** Not dead yet? **WHAM WHAM WHAM** Is now. "NEXT!"

"Fortune, please control yourself."

D'aww... "Alright, fine..." I sighed before more casually sneak-walking over to the next shadow, this stupid looking cupid thing, and smashing it in the head, sending it at a wall where it splattered into nothingness. "Let's go."

I heard Yukari mumble in disapproval and Akihiko chuckle slightly, but felt Mitsuru glare at me a little. She is not amused. Oh well. We went up to the third floor and started towards the back of it to the large room Fuuka indicated.

"Hey, Fuuka, are the guests in here okay?" I asked as I bashed another Shadow in the face with my awesome bat.

_{Yes, they're fine. The Shadows aren't attacking anyone.}_

"Groovy." I smirked as we found a huge set of doors. Hey Shade, you got anything I can use to make an epic entrance?

_'Well after kicking ass on your way up here, methinks you're probably strong enough to start trying to channel some of my skills.'_

Start with something simple. Like blowing these doors open to hit the Shadow inside.

_'I can do that. Check with Fuuka about where in the room it is.'_

"Hey Fuuka, is the big shadow in the center of the room?"

_{Yes it is. Why?}_

"You'll find out." I smirked. "Akihiko, hold this."

"Huh?" He stammered as I shoved my bat into his hands. "Why?"

"You'll see." I grined as black energy crackled around my hands. I drew both my arms back as I approached the doors. "KNOCK KNOCK!"

I threw my arms forward, a resounding 'BLAM' echoing as the doors got blasted completely off their hinges and flew into the room. A roar of discontent came from within as we saw the doors impact the Heirophant Shadow. Big fat sumo-sized tub of lard on a big chair with huge robo-spider legs and what looks like a lady with random sticks for a head as the chair's back rubbing fatty's shoulders. Also got these little cross lookin' things floating next to it as its chair stands on the gigantic bed in the center of the room.

"DAMN that thing's ugly." I said aloud. "But whatever! Fuuka, start scanning please!"

_{Okay, just give me some time.}_

"Everyone else..." I took my bat back from Akihiko and pointed dramatically. "KILL IT!"

The Heirophant grunted loudly, then pointed at us. We only had a moment to move before he started dropping Zios on us all. Fortunely we managed to scramble out of the way.

"Why here, of all places...?" I heard Yukari gripe before firing an ar- Wait, why was what arrow glowing green?

_'She channeled a Garu into it.'_

Oh neat, so now she has tornado arrows of doom. That might actually make her marginally more effective in combat. Anywho, back to the matter at hand! Switch Persona, evoker up, and... "Come forth!" **BANG** _ZRRT_ "What in the hell, it hit me!" Yay for Take-Mikazuchi, though, and his natural nullification of electricity.

_{That shadow repels Zio skills!}_

"Well SHIT." I snapped as I dove out of the way of one of the doors I blasted at it that one of the crosses decided to launch at me somehow. "Okay, Akihiko, skip on the lightning, but otherwise do whatever!"

"Understood!" He shouted back. I saw his metal gloves glowing orange when I looked at him for a second, then focused on dealing with the stupid floating mini cross thing.

I swung at it with the bat, but it kept floating around my strikes.

"God damn son of a bitch!" I growled before winding up quickly for a home run swing. "HOLD STILL!" CRACK

HA! Got the little fucker that time! And it hit the other one! "Mitsuru, finish them off!"

"Persona!" **BANG**

A spike of ice stabbed down through the two minature cross shadows and they evaporated, leaving us with only the Heirophant to worry about. Akihiko and Yukari had its attention divided between the two of them, with her firing Garu Arrows at it and Akihiko channeling Sonic Punches through his weapons as he wailed on whichever of the big robo-legs he was nearest to. It kept trying to either step on one of them or throw a Zionga around, but the other one would do something and piss it off more so it was clearly getting frustrated.

Okay, this calls for somethin' heavy. "Pale Rider!" **BANG** The Horseman of the Apocolypse rode forth at my command and threw his hand out, calling forth a Garula to blast into the Heirophant and draw its attention to me.

"Hi." I said, waving my hand with my bat resting on my shoulder. "What's goin' on?"

The Heirophant grunted and pointed at me, causing his chair to throw a Zionga my way. I'd already switched back to Take-Mikazuchi, though, so the lightning did absolutely nothing.

"Denied!" I said, giving it a thumbs down as I readied my Evoker. I felt a surprising surge of power as I did so. "Take-Mikazuchi!" **BANG**

The thunder god lept out of my head and struck the Heirophant with a Getsu-ei, doing critical damage and completely slicing off one of the chair's legs, sending the massive shadow crashing down.

"Here's our chance for an All-Out Attack!"

"GIVE NO QUARTER!" I shouted as I lept onto the shadow and started wailing away with my bat. Fuckin' love this thing. The Shadow screamed in agony as the four of us punched, kicked, stabbed, slashed, or otherwise beat the living shit out of it until it disintagrated.

_'Well that was easy.'_

_{Good job everyone!}_ exclaimed Fuuka over the brain link thing. _{You succeeded once again. We'll wait for you outside.}_

"Whew, we did it!" Yukari cheered. "C'mon, let's go. I'll get the door."

"Alright, jus-" I stopped. "Wait, door?"

We all looked at the entrance. The door was completely intact and undamaged, not to mention back in its proper place. What the fuck?

"How did the door get back there?" Akihiko asked. "I thought Roy blasted it off its hinges!"

"I did!" I told him. "Sure, Shade helped, but I still totally blew that door into the room!"

_{Huh?}_ Fuuka's voice was in our heads again. _{I still sense a Shadow in that room! It's not the same one you defeated!}_

"WHAT!"

_{But... Where is it hiding?}_

"I don't see anything..." stated the boxer as he looked around the room.

"Hey, is it just me..." Yukari began, causing the rest of us to turn and face her. "Or is there something strange about this mirror?"

"Yeah, it's not-" My head started feeling weird all of a sudden. "What in the...?"

"I feel funny..." murmured Yukari before she slumped to the ground. I heard a couple of soft thumps behind me as I fell to my knees, dropping my bat and bracing myself with my arms.

"What... the hell..." I grunted before I fell and the world turned to white.

* * *

"Uuugh..." I groaned, sitting upright on a bed in some kinda hotel. From the sounds of things, there's someone in the bathroom taking a shower. I glanced around, noticing my jacket and hat sitting chair on the other side of the room. Okay, so at the very least I came here on purpose... But I feel like I'm forgetting something important...

"GUH!" I grasped my head with my right hand.

_**~I am the voice of your inner self...~**_ said a voice inside my head. **_~Enjoy the moment... That which cannot be felt is merely a dream... The present is all we have...~_**

What in the fuck is this thing going on about? I don't think the voice of my inner self would say stuff like this...

_**~The future is but a fantasty, memory a fabrication...~**_

Bullshit. Memories are anything but fabricated.

**_~Let your desire free you from your shackles... Such is my wish...~_**

I'm not shackled by anything. Leave me alone.

**_~Pleasure is what you truly want.~_**

God damn it, leave me alone! Gah, where's something I can use to shut this voice up?

_'Try that.'_

That gun... no, that's a...

**_~You stand before the doorway to bliss. You cannot deny your instincts...~_**

I stood up and grabbed the silver handgun off the stand next to the bed.

**_~Embrace your desire...~_**

Shut up. I pointed the gun at my head.

**_~Why do you resist...?~_**

I resist because I'm a Wild Card, _bitch._

**BANG**

My world went dark.

* * *

Okay, why am I suddenly in a casino? A really nice one, I might add.

"About time!" I turned around to see Shade fighting off what looked like another replicant of me, except with a Lovers mask the side of his hat in place of the cards and everything about it that should have been a shade of red was instead a shade of pink. And there are small gold spikes comming off the ends of the sleeves and around the collar of his jacket, as well as the hem of his jeans.

"The hell?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No time!" Shade snapped, grabbing Pinky and throwing him across the room. "We need to kill that thing so you can wake up!"

"Why do you resist?" asked the Pink replicant as it stood up from the Blackjack table it crashed into. "Do not avert your eyes from the truth... Pleasure is what you truly want."

I gave Pinky a flat glare and cracked my knuckles. "Oh shut the hell up."

"You cannot deny your instincts!" shouted the replicant as it charged towards me, knocking over any tables in its path. "EMBRACE YOUR DESIRE!"

I caught the punch it tried to throw at me with one hand.

"Alright then." I growled, grabbing it by the throat. "You wanna know what I desire?"

Pinky struggled against my hand for a moment before I threw him at a nearby slot machine.

"My desire is to KICK YOUR ASS!" I bellowed, charging towards him. "NOW BE A GOOD LITTLE BITCH AND TAKE YOUR LUMPS!"

Pinky rolled out of the way as I swung my fist, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the backhand that came afterwards when he stood up, sending him staggering away.

He swung at me and I dodged, and kept dodging as he kept throwing punches at me.

"Little help here!" I called out.

"Just a sec!" I heard Shade call from somwhere.

I ducked under a roundhouse kick, then slammed my shoulder into Pinky's chest and rammed him into a wall. "NOW, PLEASE!"

"Alright, alright! Just get the hell out of the way!"

I let go of the replicant and dove aside just in time for something red to slam into him in my place. I looked over and saw Shade holding what looked like an evoker with some kind of crimson red attachment on it that made it look sorta like a Desert Eagle.

"What'd you just do?" I asked.

"New trick." He replied, twirling the gun on his finger. "Gimme about a month and you can probably use it."

I raised an eyebrow. "That mean I can use the claws now?"

"You can once you kick his ass." He said, pointing at Pinky who was now crawling out of the hole in the wall, pink energy glowing around his hands.

"WHY DO YOU RESIST?" he barked angrily.

"Because _YOU_..." I said, pulling a card out of my pants pocket. "Are not part of **ME!**" I threw the card at the replicant, then a flash of light appeared when it impacted him and he got evicerated by a Getsu-ei before vanishing.

I blinked. "What did I just do?"

"You turned a Getsu-ei skill card into a bladed bomb of doom..." Shade stated, equally surprised. "Dude, I didn't know you could do that..."

"Me either!" I replied. "Now how do I get out of here?"

"Oh, right." Shade put the gun back in his jacket, then snapped his fingers, and my world went black.

* * *

"Uuugh..." I sat up, sitting on the bed in the stupid room of the love hotel again. I still had the evoker in my hand. I tucked it into the holster still belted to my waist. I stood up just in time to hear the shower stop. Apparently that whole fight in the casino didn't take very long. By the way, where WAS that place, Shade?

_'That's what the inside of your head looks like.'_

Really? Sweet! I've got a casino in my brain!

My attention shifted when I heard the bathroom door open. I looked over to see Yukari wearing nothing but a towel. Now, if I didn't know her and these were more normal circumstances, I would totally think that's hot, but the fact she's got this brainjacked zombie look in her eyes is telling me that, unfortunetly, she's having problems with something in her brain like I was. This... is probably bad.

"R-Roy-kun..." She murmured, as if in a trance. Then she slowly started taking steps towards me.

"Whoa, hang on Yukari..." I said, holding up my hands as she advanced. She had a lustful look in her otherwise dead eyes. "Yukari, stop this, you're not yourself!"

She wasn't listening, she just kept coming towards me. The hand holding her towel was starting to loosen, which would spell my demise if she came to her senses without anything on AT ALL. Which means it's time for Plan B.

**SMACK**

B for Bitchslap, that is. I swung hard enough to cause her to stumble a bit while at the same time made sure my back was facing her.

"...Ugh..." She groaned. "What was I...?"

There was silence for a second before she screamed and I heard her scramble back into the bathroom.

_{Oh, I can finally reach you!}_ Yay Fuuka! _{Can you two hear me?}_

"Fuuka!" I cheered. "Good to hear your voice in my brain. What's goin' on?"

_{I'm sorry I couldn't contact you sooner... The Shadow was interfering with your thoughts and you all got seperated...}_ She reported. _{The enemy is still in the same room, so please regroup and hurry there... Did you hear that, Yukari?}_

"Oh, uh, sorry..." Yukari called out from the bathroom. "Yeah, I heard you..."

_{Um... Did something happen?}_

"NO!" Yukari snapped instantly. "Nothing!"

_{O-Okay...}_

"You okay in there, Yukari?" I asked as I put my jacket and hat back on. I spotted my bat leaning against the wall.

"I-I'm fine!"

I shrugged, then thought about something and started laughing. The door opened and Yukari came out, fully clothed and holding her bow.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"Well, you know what just happened to us?" I smirked. "I bet the same thing happened to Mitsuru and Akihiko."

She looked at me in confusion for a second, then started giggling.

"And uh, sorry for smacking you." I winced as I grabbed my bat. "It seemed like the only thing that'd snap you out of it."

I turned back to face her and got a slap across the face.

"Now we're even." She replied, starting towards the door. She stopped and looked at me. "Come on, let's go. And If you tell anyone about this, I won't ever speak to you again."

That actually wouldn't be a bad thing in my book.

_'I wonder what Junpei would think of this if we told him...'_

Perhaps we should find out later.

"Hey Fuuka, where are Akihiko and Mitsuru?"

_{They're on the second floor.}_

"Alright." I replied, exiting the room and moving towards the stairs. "You, Shinjiro, and Junpei should come join us then. This thing might be pretty powerful."

_{Okay.}_

Yukari and me quickly went up the steps and found our senpai waiting for us in the hall. Akihiko looked a little bit worse for wear.

"So, you guys were on the first floor, huh?" commented the boxer. "I'm surprised there was another Shadow..."

"What happened to you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "And why are there cuts on your sleeves?"

"W-We're fine!" Mitsuru said quickly, her face turning bright red. "Nothing happened!"

Oh I so wanna know what happened to those two now. It's probably hilarious.

"There you are!" I turned around to see Junpei, Shinjiro, and Fuuka climbing up the stairs.

"I'm sorry, everyone..." Fuuka apologised. "I never expected there to be another Shadow. Its power is blanketing the whole building."

I shrugged. "Well nothing too horrible happened, so it's okay. Now what can you tell us about the other Shadow?"

"I'm pretty sure it's in that one room you were in before, but it's sealed the door somehow, so I don't think you'll be able to get in..."

"Leave that to me." Shinjiro grunted, adjusting his axe on his shoulder. "I'll smash the door down."

"Nah, that probably won't work." I told him. "If it's smart enough to try and highjack our brains, it's probably smart enough to make that barrier damn near impenitrable, if not completely indestructable by direct attacks."

"Tch."

"So what do we do?" asked Junpei. "Just run around and break stuff until we can get at the Shadow?"

"I got it!" Fuuka suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to look at her. "It's the mirrors! They're giving off the same energy as the Shadow! Maybe the seal will vanish if you break the mirrors..."

"Hey, the mirror in the room we were in looked kinda weird." Akihiko informed us.

"It's a start." I relented. We moved to the room at the end of the hall and looked in. The mirror had a dark, oily look to it. "Okay, yeah, that looks nothing like the one we saw downstairs. Break that thing."

Without thinking, Akihiko threw a punch at the mirror, cracking it and causing black mist to seep out of it.

"The seal weakened!" Fuuka exclaimed. "But, there seems to be another mirror on the floor above us."

I smirked. "Alright then, Fuuka, go wait outside the room the Shadow's in. Everyone else, split up and look for that other black mirror."

* * *

So we did that and Shinjiro was the lucky winner and broke the final mirror, leaving us standing outside the Heirophant's room. Fuuka was standing off to the side inside Lucia. I looked at everyone.

"You guys ready?"

I got nods from everyone. Cool, because I've been dying to do something rediculous and silly all night. I mean honestly, what's the point of doing what we're doing if you can't at least have SOME fun with it?

_'There isn't a point.'_

Exactly! "Alright chums, let's do this!" I turned around and looked at the door. "LEEEEE**ROOOOOOY!**" I kicked the door open. _**"JEEEEENKIIIIIINS!"**_

I feel so much better now that I've gotten THAT out of my system again. And now I'm stairing down what looks like a giant floating pink jell-o heart with a lovers mask and a pair of weird gooey wings and gold spikey bits on it. There also seems to be a smaller heart inside of it made of something completely black, and it's pulsating like a heartbeat.

This is really, really weird. I heard the others file into the room behind me.

"Because of you..." Yukari snarled. "I had to come to this disgusting place! Now, you're gonna pay!"

The floating shadow seemed to chuckle, then several glowing pink spikes emerged from it.

"LOOK OUT!" I shouted, instinctively tackling the nearest person, which turned out to be Shinjiro, as the pink spikes shot out. I head a few shouts behind me, unfortunely indicating the others didn't dodge in time.

I stood up and pulled Shinjiro to his feet, then looked back at the others. They were all pulling pink arrows out of themselves, but otherwise looked fine. Then Yukari looked in my direction.

Her eyes were glowing pink.

"You guys!" I looked over at the Lovers shadow and it now resembled the doupleganger of me from my head, except holding a black version of my bat now as well. "The Shadow's controlling Shinjiro!"

"WHAT?"

Mitsuru, Junpei, and Akihiko also had the glowing pink eyes.

_{Roy-kun! They've been charmed!}_

"Shit..." Shinjiro spat, taking up a stance as the others pointed their weapons at the two of us.

"Fortune, why does the Shadow look like you?" Mitsuru asked the Lovers.

"Probably to make Shinjiro think he's really me and that the Shadow is controlling the rest of you!"

Fucking SHIT.

"What's charm?" I hissed quickly.

"Makes you think allies are enemies and vice versa." Replied my axe weilding senpai quickly. "But I've never seen anything like this..."

_{I can't talk to the others!}_ Fuuka reported. _{The Shadow is blocking their minds!}_

Shit this is bad and HOLY FUCK YUKARI ALMOST HIT ME IN THE FACE WITH A TORNADO ARROW!

"It's blocking our ability to contact Yamagishi!" Mitsuru shouted before Junpei charged at me, brandishing his sword. I blocked it with my bat, then kicked him away before leaping back to avoid a Bufula. Shinjiro was unfortunetly left to fend off Yukari and Akihiko trying to grab him.

"Shinji, snap out of it!" Akihiko pleaded as he fought against his friend. "That's not Roy!"

"You snap out of it, you idiot!" Shinjiro barked as the two of them traded blows.

"You'll fall by my hand!" Mitsuru declaired as she rushed in to try and stab me with her rapier. I barely avoided the slashes, but still got a shallow cut on my neck. She backed off slightly as Junpei charged at me again.

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" He shouted, wildly swinging his katana around.

"Damn it Junpei!" I yelled as I ducked under a swing. "I'm Roy! The one back there is the Shadow!"

"Don't listen to it!" called out the Lovers. "It might be trying to trick you!"

"Oh shut the hell up!" I snapped, shoving Junpei out of the way and dodging past Mitsuru to get at the impostor. "I'm gonna smash your fucking face in!"

"I'd like to see you try, you god damn Shadow!" Shouted the Lovers as it swung its bat at me. I blocked with my own, and ended up kicking him in the knee, then shoving him back before swinging at it again. He ducked under my swing, then punched me in the jaw, knocking me to the ground. I rolled out of the way to avoid his overhead swing, then scrambled to my feet and hopped onto the bed in time to get out of the way of a diving kick from Hermes.

"Junpei, back me up!" called out the Shadow as he came towards me.

"You got it, dude!" Junpei replied, heading towards me as Shinjiro struggled to fend off the attempts by the others to restrain him.

_'Shit, this is not going well...'_

FUCKING TELL ME ABOUT IT!

I ended up parrying the attacks from both of them at once.

"Pretty good for an impostor!" proclaimed the Lovers. "But you can't beat the original!"

I smirked. "That's exactly what I was thinking!"

I channeled a Tarukaja, then shoved against their weapons before throwing my bat aside. That thing's not going to do me any good right now, so it's a good thing I kept the card with my gauntlets in it on hand! I crushed the card and the metal gloves appeared on my hands before I charged at the Shadow, who tried to parry with his bat only for the pathetic immitation to shatter whem my fist collided with it. My momentum carried the punch through the splintered weapon and into his face, sending him flying into the wall, then slumping to the ground.

Before I could do anything else, I got hit from the side by Hermes. I got flung into a different wall, but thankfully didn't end up crashing through the large window because that would have REALLY sucked. I staggered upright, only to get a punch in the jaw courtesy of the Lovers, who now sported his own set of gauntlets. Fucker seems determined to piss me off.

The Shadow swung again, but I caught his wrist, then flipped him over my shoulder and slammed him onto the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

I looked over at Junpei, who was looking back and forth between my fight and Shinjiro's failing attempts to fend off everyone else. His eyes weren't glowing anymore.

"Pinky here charmed everybody except me and Shinjiro!" I explained, grabbing my doppleganger before throwing him at a different wall to keep him stunned for longer. "Just watch out for any sort of pink energy attacks and try to keep him back while I go help Shinjiro!"

"Alright!" Junpei agreed quickly as I darted towards Shinjiro.

"The Shadow charmed Iori!" Mitsuru shouted at Akihiko and Yukari, who almost had Shinjiro pinned.

"Damn it! Mitsuru, go help Roy, we'll keep Shinjiro busy!"

"I think not!" I yelled as I charged in and tackled Akihiko. "Snap out of it, man!"

"Get off me!" He barked angrily, punching me in the face to send me staggering back. "Damn Shadow!"

"DAMN IT AKI!" Shinjiro growled as he blocked a Garu Arrow from Yukari. "That's not the Shadow!"

Akihiko didn't listen, and insted kept trying to punch me. I dodged a few, but he still got me good at least once. Argh, screw it!

"Sorry about this, Akihiko!" I said as I ducked under his straight, then smashed my fist into his face. He fell to the ground.

"Akihiko!" I spun around quickly and grabbed Mitsuru's Rapier before slapping her with my free hand, sending her sprwaling as well.

"Sorry Senpai." I quickly turned to Yukari, then ran towards her. "Damn it, Yukari!" I shouted, driving my right hand into the left side of her face for the second time tonight right before she could summon Io to blast Shinjiro.

_'You didn't apologise when you punched Yukari.'_

That's becasue I'm not sorry I had a legitimate excuse to punch her in the face.

_'Alright, just checkin'.'_

"Roy! Little help here!" Shinjiro and me turned back to see Junpei trying to fend off the Lovers.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, hopping onto the bed, then springing off of it to kick the Shadow in the face. "Alright, back up and regroup!"

The two of us quickly darted back to the others, who had thankfully snapped out of the god damn charming effect because I hit them all.

"You guys okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine..." Akihiko grunted.

"Y-Yeah..." stammered Yukari as she stood up. "Where's the Shadow?"

There was a frustrated shout and the Shadow lept into the air over the bed, still looking like me. Sorta. Now his skin had turned transparent and pink and he had the gooey wings coming out of his back. The lovers mask was also on his face now and his hat was gone.

I do believe we pissed it off.

Its hands burst into flames, then it threw its arms out, sending a Maragilao out at us. Junpei, who was standing close to Mitsuru, took the brunt of the attack for her due to her known weakness to Agi skills. Yukari started sniping away at the Shadow as Mitsuru threw Bufulas at it and Shinjiro and Akihiko called forth Castor and Polydeuces.

And then awesome happened.

Polydeuces hopped onto the back of Castor's one-legged horse thing, then they both seemed to crackle with electricity before they charged at the Shadow, ramming into it and causing a HUGE lightshow of violent thunder to spark from the impact. The shadow howled in pain, but survived the assult. It still seemed partly stunned, though, and was merely spazuming in the air slightly.

_'I think now might be a good time to crack open a Cadenza.'_

Good call. I took out the card I kept my stock of them in, then took one out. It looked like a pale green triangle with a sphere instead of a point on each end and a glowing music note inside of it.

"Here goes!" I crushed the gem in my hand, then felt the power surging from it before throwing it into the air. An envigorating and increadably epic song started playing from thin air and our wounds healed. And the music kept playing. Fucking sweet, I think it just cause a Theme Music Power up!

_'Oh fuck yes.'_

"Junpei, get ready!" I called out. "I'm gonna see about knocking that thing down and when I do, you're going to stab it in the face and burn it to death!"

"Alright!" He cheered.

Now let's see if I can really do this...

I focused quickly, then felt a slight tingle about my hands. I looked at my fists and they were crackling with black energy. I smirked, then snapped into a stance with my hands open. I really can use the claws now.

_'Told ya.'_

"HERE WE GO!" I shouted, charging at the Shadow and channeling a Tarukaja into my legs so I can jump higher. I lept and drove my right hand into its chest, causing it to scream in agony as it plumeted behind the bed.

I ripped my hand out once we landed, then quickly grabbed its wingsand tore them off.

"JUNPEI, NOW!"

As if on cue, Junpei sprang over the bed and rammed his katana through the head of the Lovers shadow before it burst into flames. The Shadow roared in pain as it burned, but it kicked Junpei off(causing Junpei's katana to come out of its face in the process) and stood up before smacking me aside. I hit a wall, and rolled around in time to see Shinjiro charge up from behind it, kick it back down, then disintagrate its head with his Axe. The shadow melted into nothing, and Shinjiro sighed as he pulled his weapon out of the floor.

God damn it, stop being so awesome.

"It's over now... right?" Yukari asked weakly, rubbing her cheek that was likely really, really sore. Because, ya know, I didn't hold back on that punch.

"Yeah." Shinjiro affirmed, turning towards the door with his axe slung over his shoulder.

* * *

"I'm glad your all safe." Fuuka sighed as we walked out of the room.

"I'm glad I'm not dead." I groaned. "I mean shit, Mitsuru almost cut my head off." I sighed. "But whatever. It all turned out okay, I guess."

"Indeed." affirmed Mitsuru. "The enemy was sly, but you all did well."

"I did what I could." Commented our mission control happily.

"And you too, for withstanding the enemy's mental assult."

I laughed slightly. "You can actually thank Shade for that. He helped a bit."

"Who's Shade?" asked Shinjiro.

"You see these claws?" I asked, holding up my hand and morphing one of said claws onto my hand. "He's the reason I have them. He's basicly a Persona, just a really different one."

"That how you blew the door open before we fought that first Shadow?"

I nodded to answer Akihiko's question. I looked back at Junpei. "And hey, nice work Junpei."

"Huh?" He seemed surprised.

"Dude, if you hadn't snapped out of that things mind control when you did AND manage to keep it busy long enough for me to knock sense into everyone else, we all might be dead by now." I told him. "You're basicly the hero this time around."

His eyes widened slightly. "Really?"

I nodded. "Hell yeah!"

He grinned. "Heh, thanks man!"

"Anytime, buddy." Brofist.

**CRASH**

GAH FUCK NINJA SOCIAL LINK

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

Whoa, extreme Ninja Social Link. I haven't heard from that one in a couple months!

_'Yeah, not sense the Monorail Operation.'_

That long? Damn. Ah well, we did good, so whatever.

* * *

Author Note: So, what do you all think? Not bad, right? Right? D:

Anyways, so now Roy's got exploding Skill Cards of doom(those will come up again really quickly), the claws, and now Shade can(presumably) turn an Evoker into a laser pistol in time for the Chariot and Justice battle! This is also not my longest chapter, by the way. Chapter 7 still has the title of Longest Chapter of A Fool Named Fortune, and probably won't be de-throaned for a while. Funnily enough, Chapter 7 was also the last time the Fool Social Link ranked up for Roy. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, more to come soon!


	20. Watch the Tower fall

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Frost XZ** - Similar how? With Shinjiro being awesome and finishing off the Arcana Lovers? Or the dialog about the door? That second one probably only seems similar because there's only so many ways characters can react to a door that got completely blown the fuck off its hinges being back where it was all of a sudden.

**Astrith Konnash -** Yeah, I need to remember to use the spell checker more often. Or maybe start using a program that HAS a spell check instead of Notepad. And yeah, there's some events I kinda keep on the rails of the original P3 script, but that'll start happening less often if I ever start getting comphortable with writing the characters and getting their personalities right. And thanks, I'm glad I'm at least getting Shinjiro right! He's one of my favorites as well(and admittedly writing for him is rather easy, because his personality is about as blunt force as a cinderblock fired out of a cannon most of the time) and Happy New Year to you as well!

**Despair's Cold Edge **- Yes. Eventually Roy is going to be able to get a freakin' laser pistol that shoots freakin' laser beams. Probably gonna downplay it a bit, though, because otherwise he'll have to many ways to kill Shadows(Not that he doesn't already with the Wild Card and all).

Now ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I slept like a log when we got back to the dorm. On the way to school the next morning, I heard a couple girls chatting about finals next week and summer break. Blargh, I forgot about finals. Ah well, I'm sure I'll do fine.

Felt like doing something simple after school today, so I headed to Art Club for the last meeting before exams. And nearly had a panic attack when I got to the room, but that was because I forgot Ms. Toriumi is the club adivsor(I found out last time I was here and almost had a panic attack then as well).

"Everyone, can I have your attention please!" She called out. "Now, reguarding the Bay Area Art Contest, I'm please to announce that Keisuke's painting was selected for consideration in the final round!"

I heard one of the other members gripe a little, but I just went over and patted Keisuke on the shoulder. "Great job, man!"

"Th-Thanks, Roy-kun!" He said, grinning nervously. "But, I've only been painting for about two years now, so I must've gotten lucky..."

"You should have more confidence in yourself, Keisuke-senpai." stated Fuuka. "You've been working hard on your paintings."

"That's right!" agreed one of the other members. "You're always the first one here and the last one to leave."

"Thanks guys, but I'm your senpai." Keisuke chuckled. "I should be encouraging you, not the other way around."

"Details, details." I commented dismissively. "Stop selling yourself short, dude. Doesn't matter if you don't feel like you're seeting a good example or not, just do what you do and don't stress it."

He smirked. "Thanks Roy-kun."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana_.

"Uuugh..." Our attention was drawn to one of the other members, who had finally staggered into the club room. And I mean STAGGERED, this guy looks like absolute hell. He's really pale and it looks like he's struggling to even stand up.

"H-Hey, are you okay?" Fuuka seemed paniced, but Keisuke was almost instantly over to see the guy.

"Wh-What's going on...?" asked the guy as Keisuke helped him into a chair. "Ugh... I... I can't stand..."

"Just take it easy..." stated Keisuke firmly. "You're pale, your blood pressure's low, and you're having difficulty breathing... Now, tell me... Have you been feeling weak and tired lately? When's the last time you ate something?"

"Um..." The guy's expression turned thoughtful. Hayate! That's his name. "Well, I didn't eat breakfast this morning, so..."

"Well, it looks like you're suffering from iron-deficiency anema. Simply but, you're not getting enough Iron." Keisuke told him. "I recommend you add iron-rich foods such as liver, whole grains, and green leafy vegetables to your diet."

"He gonna be okay?" I asked.

Keisuke seemed to ignore me. "You should still get check out by a professional, though. I'm not a real doctor, after all..."

He looked back at the rest of us. "Why don't you guys head home? I'll take him to the Nurse's office."

I shrugged slightly. "Okay, if you say so..."

* * *

I opted to walk back to the dorm with Fuuka. She wanted to stop by the Iwatodai Strip mall on the way, and I didn't really mind so I went with it. We ended up talking about our favorite foods along the way somehow.

"Remember when I told you that I needed to get better at cooking?" Fuuka asked as we crossed the street. "Well, I've been cooking a lot since then... That's why I wanted to know what your favorite food is, so I could make it for you." Her expresion fell. "But... Everything I make still tastes terrible..."

"Well I believe in you." I told her. "You just gotta work at it, and you'll get better."

Fuuka looked at me in awe. I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Thank you..." She said, still looking slightly awestruck. "No one's ever said anything like that to me..." She blushed a little and looked away. "I'm not really a positive thinking... I always picture the worst happening." She smiled at me. "So, I'm really thankful to be a member of SEES. Everyone's been so encouraging... Especially you, Roy-kun... That's why I want to show you my gratitude."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

Neat.

"Maybe I should watch one of those cooking shows on TV..." Fuuka mused, her finger on her chin. "Then again, they're probably too advanced for me..."

"Why not get a cookbook?" I suggested, jerking my thumb in the direction of Bookworms. "Probably got a few in there."

"I could, but..." She winced. "I don't really like going to the bookstore..." She sighed. "It's not a big deal, though."

I shrugged. "If you say so."

* * *

Got back to the dorm after walking around with Fuuka for a bit. Yukari snagged Fuuka for something as soon as we got back. I chilled in the lounge by myself for a while when Shinjiro appeared and started out of the dorm.

"Where ya headed?" I asked. He stopped at the door and looked at me.

"Hagakure." He replied.

"Mind if I tag along?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Tch. Fine by me."

* * *

So me 'n Shinjiro headed to Hagakure and ordered a couple specials.

"Any particular reason you wanted to tag along?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I like the ramen and I haven't been in a while."

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow, the shook his head and muttered something about me being weird as our orders arrived.

"Well, let's eat." He said. "Watch the soup, it's hot..."

"Yeah yeah..." I grunted before blowing on it a little.

"Ow..."

I looked at Shinjiro. "What's the 'ow' for?"

"Forgot I had a cut in my mouth..." Shinjiro told me. "It's 'cause Aki punched me."

"That happen durring the Operation last night?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He's seriously got to learn how frickin' heavy a boxing champ's punch is..."

"I know what you mean." I replied, slurping up some noodles. "He got me good a few times as well." I looked over at him. "So how long you two known each other?"

"We grew up in the same orphanage." He said. "We used to get into fights all the time back then."

"Thick as thieves?" I smirked.

He laughed a little. "Pretty much." He looked at me. "But man, you're actually younger then him?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What about it?"

"Nothin', nothin'." Shinjiro chuckled. "We're just lucky you're a reliable leader."

**CRASH**

Whoa, what?

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

...Wow, that's almost hilarious. Wonder what this one'll be like...

"Oww..." griped Shinjiro, rubbing his face. He chuckled a little. "That reminds me, I cut the inside of my mouth the first time he punched me, too... I couldn't eat for a while because of that."

"Ouch." I winced. "That couldn't have been fun. When did it happen?"

He shrugged. "I forget. It was back when we were kids." he sighed. "This just ain't gonna work. I'll have to wait until it cools down..."

"Sucks to be you." I teased, slurping up another bite. He punched me in the arm. "Ow! Jeez man, I was kidding!"

* * *

We got back to the dorm after a little while. Went to bed, and ended up walking to school alone. I was actually enjoying the warm-but-not-too-hot day with my headphones around my neck when I heard a couple students talking.

"The morning sunrise is so refreshing!" Beamed the girl. "The sunlight reflecting off the windows is beautiful!"

"It's because the building wasn't build that long ago, so everything is still gleaming." Shrugged the guy she was talking to. Hey wait, that's Sasuke from Tennis Club! "You know, I heard from my parents there was an explosion here ten years ago and they had the building replaced after that." WHAT. "But that's not all, around that time, a lot of students stopped coming to school. Maybe that's why the put up the building. To start with a clean slate, ya'know?"

"An explosion?" The girl was shocked. "Did someone screw up in chem lab or something? That must have been a dangerous lecture..."

And I totally would have paid money to see it, but sadly I was like six at the time so I couldn't have even if I knew. Oh well.

* * *

I went to Fashion Club after class, but forgot it was closed due to exams next week, so I just ended up going to Changall Cafe with Hamuko.

"So did you talk to Aragaki-senpai?" She asked after we ordered.

"Yeah. Him and Akihiko are good friends, and he apparently likes Hagakure's ramen." I informed her with a shrug. "I only talked to him last night, though, and apart from that nothing much else came up 'cept that him 'n Akihiko got into fights alot when they were kids."

"I see..." She said quietly.

"So yeah, that's all I know." I stated as our drinks arrived. "You want more details, talk to him yourself, kay?"

Hamuko nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Roy-kun."

"No problem."

* * *

Went back to the dorm and got a call from Elizabeth about the next barrier going down in Tartarus. Mitsuru also mentioned how the Shadows we've been fighting have started getting craftier and suggested we go to Tartarus.

"Nah, not till after Exams." I told her. "Can't exactly study and fight at the same time, so it's probably better we just skip Tartarus before big tests come up."

"Very well, but we'll have to use our time wisely afterwards." She advised. I shrugged.

"We'll be fine."

* * *

Nothing at all of any note happened on Friday, what with all the clubs and such closed, and most of my friends were busy studying. I did end up hanging out with Akihiko for a bit, but it was just casual talk and us being thankful our fangirls were busy studying instead of bothering us.

Back at the dorm I helped Junpei study because I'm cool like that. It also helps that I can translate basicly anything into an abridged version that makes sense to him, so he might be happier with his scores this time around. We chatted on the way to school the next morning and reviewed a few other things. He seemed greatful I was helpin' him out. Got a text from Akihiko once class was out to head back to the dorm for a meeting with Sketchtsuki.

_'I gotta wonder what that guy does when he's not bothering us.'_

Probably working on corny jokes or something else like that.

"...So that's what happened on the night of the Seventh." Mitsuru finished. "It was a difficult operation."

I asked her to downplay the details about me and Shade a bit, apart from the door blasting, and thankfully she agreed to it, though was kind of skeptical as to why I wouldn't want to bring it up to Sketchtsuki. I told her it's because I'd like to have a better understanding of it myself before I went out of my way to give details, and she bought it dispite the fact it's really because the Chairman bugs the hell out of me.

"I see..." Mused Ikutsuki. "They're getting tougher... But, it's not all bad news." He ginned. "I called today's meeting because-"

"I'm sorry." said Yukari quickly, standing up. "Before we go on, I'd like to ask Mitsuru-senpai something."

Mitsuru was taken aback. "Me...?"

Guess Yukari took my words to heart and opted to just get some answers from Mitsuru directly. Maybe she's not totally stupid after all...

"Since I joined, so many things have happened." She began. "I went along with it without really understanding what was going on, but now, I need to know." Her expression hardened. "I'm gonna ask you straight out... You're been hiding something from us, haven't you, Senpai? You act like you don't know anything about the Dark Hour and Tartarus, but they're related to that accident ten years ago, aren't they?"

Junpei looked confused. "What accident?"

"Theere was an explosion near our school, and a lot of people died." Wait, WHAT? "It must've been big news back then. You know about it, don't you?"

Mitsuru winced. "...Yes."

"Luckily, no students were injured." Yukari continued. "But... around the same time, a large number of students were recorded as absent." She folded her arms. "Seems like more than just a coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Mitsuru asked. She's getting visibly nervous.

"I dug up some old school records, and found something interesting." Her expression became even more pointed. "The students who were absent all collapsed suddenly and had to be hospitalized." She tilted her head slightly. "Sound familiar? You know, like the girls who bullied Fuuka."

"Wait, are you suggesting what I think you are?" I asked increadulously. "Because that's crazy!"

"I am." Yukari affirmed me before turning her glare to full strength and aiming it at Mitsuru. "There has to be an explanation! What really happened on the day of that accident? The Kirijo Group built our school, so you must know something! Tell me the truth!"

"I-I wasn't trying to hide anything from you..." Mitsuru stammered. "It just never seemed relevant... but..."

"It's okay, Mitsuru." said Sketchtsuki. "It's not your fault."

"Alright." relented the redhead. "I'll tell you the whole story. The Shadows have many mysterious abilities. Some research indicates that they can even affect time and space. We think of them as our enemies, but what if we could use them to our advantage?" Her expression turned into one you'd normally see when someone is interigating you. "They would be a source of unimaginable power, wouldn't they?"

Yukari was dumbfounded. "What...?"

"Fourteen years ago, one man pursued that line of thinking." Mitsuru stated, her tone turning slightly darker. "He was the former leader of the Kirijo Group, Kouetsu Kirijo... My grandfather."

Whoa... that's... fuck, I don't even know.

_'Very heavy, at the absolute least.'_

Indeed.

"My grandfather was obsessed with Shadows." continued Mitsuru. "He wanted to harness their power, and create something extraordinary."

"Harness their power?" Fuuka asked. She looks somewhat frightened.

"He assembled a team of scientists, and over several years collected a significant number of Shadows."

"He what!" exclaimed Junpei, his eyes wide. "Damn, that's freaking crazy!"

"However... Ten years ago, durring the final stages of the experiment, they lost control of the Shadow's power." Mitsuru's expression turned grave. "Consequently, the nature of the world was altered."

Fuuka's eyes were even wider now. "You mean..."

"Yes." Mitsuru nodded. "Tartarus... and the Dark Hour..."

Then... that means...

"By their account..." continued the redhead. "The mass of Shadows they col-"

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" I roared, leaping to my feet. "YOU MEAN YOUR GRANDFATHER IS THE REASON FOR ALL OF THIS?"

"Whoa, Roy, what's the matter?" Junpei asked, understandably sounding freaked the hell out.

"HER GRANDDAD!" I pointed at Mitsuru. "IS THE REASON MY PARENTS ARE FUCKING DEAD!"

Everyone in the room went silent.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Yukari sounds terrified.

"What I'M talking about is the night they died." I stated. "You remember how I said I've been awake durring the Dark Hour sense the night of the accident that killed them?" Yukari nodded dumbly. "Well, the reason they're dead is because they were in the Dark Hour as well."

There were a few surprised gasps, while Shinjiro just winced. He knows because I brought it up to him once.

"I don't remember why we were out that late." I said. "But the front right tire on the car blew out and we crashed into the side of the Moonlight Bridge. Hard." I scowled. "I woke up after the crash to see my dad shaking me with blood all over his face. He smiled at me, then slumped over the steering wheel. I tried to wake him up, but then I heard mom coughing. I climbed out of the back of the car and found my mom lying on the ground. The world was green, none of the other cards were moving, there was blood everywhere, and there were coffins in cars instead of people."

I swallowed hard as I felt a stinging sensation in the corners of my eyes. "I picked my mom up and she smiled at me. I told her I was scared. She said everything would be okay, but part of me knew it was a lie. There was a huge gash across her chest and it was gushing blood." I whiped the tears from my face with my arm. "I started screaming for help. I screamed and screamed and nobody came. Mom called my name, and I looked at her as she put her hand on my face. She told me she loved me, then her body went limp in my arms." I frowned. "I started crying after that. Loudly. I don't remember much after that, I think I cried myself to sleep with my arms around my mother's body."

"So... because of the Dark Hour..." Fuuka looked absolutely horrified of what I was saying.

"They died." I stated. "They died because nobody could help them. They DIED becuase they were awake durring the FUCKING DARK HOUR with horrible bleeding wounds and there was nothing I could do!" I clenched my fist, then pointed at Mitsuru again. "AND IT'S ALL YOUR GRANDFATHER'S FAULT!"

"Fortune, I-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I screamed in English, feeling tears streaming down my face. "I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY! I DON'T FUCKING WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU!" I turned on my heels and started out of the command room. "I'm going to Tartarus. Try and stop me and you'll be a smear on the conctrete." I looked back at them with a deadly glare. "If you're lucky."

I slammed the door behind me, went to my room to get my gear, then stormed out of the dorm.

* * *

Fucking Kirijo.

_'Hey, Roy, you gonna be okay?'_

I'll be fine. I AM fine.

_'No you're not. I'm you, and you can't lie to yourself._'

Just shut up. I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now.

_'Alright, fine.'_

...Thanks, though...

_'Anytime.'_

Heh.

* * *

I hopped the school gates just as the Dark Hour hit, and strode up to the tower as it rose. I went inside, then hit a button on the teleporter and went up to the highest floor. I'll just fuck around at or past the barrier to check out the next section or whatever.

I strode through Tartarus, blasting any shadows that didn't run away in time with Take-Mikazuchi or Hau Po if I didn't just smash them into nothing with my bat(I grabbed it before we left the hotel because there is no way I'm gonna abandon something this awesome till I get something better).

I passed the barrier and found myself in a new block that, honestly, I didn't know what the fuck to think of. It's weird, yet bland, but the Shadows don't run anymore. **_FUCK NO_**, these bitches come right at me. Apparently I'm not intimidating to them anymore.

"PERSONA!" **BANG**

They die just the same though.

After about twenty minutes, just as I was reaching the stairs to the next floor up, I heard chains approaching. I just shrugged mentally as I continued wailing on the Shadows I was fighting.

**'Greetings, human.'**

"Hey Reaper." CRACK "What's up?"

**'I came to investigate. You are exterminating the Shadows en mass again.'**

"I'm extremely pissed off again." WHAM WHAM **BANG** _ZRRTCH_

**'May I inquire as to why?'**

I looked up at the Reaper from the spot I just killed another shadow at, then looked over in the other direction. I'm right next to the stair room. I sighed, then walked in. "May I ask why you're interested?"

**'My reasons are my own.' **Stated the Master of Tartarus.

"I'd say mine are my own as well..." I began. "But, you're not going to go away until I tell you, huh?"

**'More accurately, I would just kill you.'**

I sighed. "Figured." I sat down on the stairs. "So, today I found out about why I'm able to enter Tartarus."

**'Is that so?'** The Reaper sounded surprised. **'And what about this revelation has angered you?'**

"The same thing that spawned Tartarus and the eternal night around it is the reason my parents are dead." I spat.

**'I fail to see how this has angered you.'**

I groaned and slapped my hand over my face. "Right, right, you don't understand how the minds of humans work." I slumped over. "Fuck, why am I even talking to you? As far as I fucking know, you don't GET introspective or what the hell ever so it's not like I'm gonna get better at butchering Shadows by talking to you..."

**'Pardon?' **The Reaper looked at me oddly.** 'You what?'**

Oh shit I said that out loud, crap, what do I do

"Err..." I stammered, rubbing my neck. "Well..."

**'So you converse with others merely because you expect to derive some sort of power from them?'**

"No! I just..."

**'For someone who claimed people aren't things to be replaced...'** stated the Reaper with a sort of glare. **'You certainly do not practice your own beliefs.'**

"That's bu-" I began, then I stopped. He's... he's right... I... I really HAVE been taking everyone for granted...

**'You once said that there's something deeper about bonds between humans.'** The Reaper continued. **'Perhaps you should learn to appreciate them, before they disappear.'**

I looked down. Shit...

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

**'Perhaps it is best for you to leave now.' **Said the Reaper, moving to the side before creating a pathway to an Access Point. **'And reflect.'**

"Yeah..." I nodded dumbly. "I will..."

* * *

I got back to the dorm and found nobody waiting for me. Well, not true, I found Fuuka asleep on the sofa.

Heh. Kinda cute when she's asleep. I sighed quietly, then walked over and picked her up bridal style. She didn't stir much, so I carefully walked up to the third floor. Thankfully her door was unlocked, so I pushed it open and set her down on her bed. I tugged a spare blanket over her before I left the room to head back down to mine. I heard a door open behind me as I got to the stairs.

"Roy...?"

I turned back to see Yukari in her pajamas and rubbing her eyes.

"Hey." I greeted simply.

"What are you doing up here?"

I shrugged slightly. "Fuuka fell asleep on the sofa waiting for me to get back. I brought her up to her room and was gonna go to bed now."

Yukari blinked in surprised. "Aren't you still mad?"

I turned away from her. "I'll live. Now's not the time to play the blame game. Go back to bed."

"Okay... Goodnight, Roy..."

"G'night, Yukari."

* * *

I went to bed after that. Next morning I woke up and found a Thank You note from Fuuka got slipped under my door. I smirked, then picked it up and set it on my desk. I took a shower, then threw on some lightweight clothes becasue it's fucking hot out. I went down to the lounge and found Junpei gettin' ready to go out.

"Hey dude." I called out as I walked towards him.

"Oh, uh, hey..." He seemed nervous. Then again, last time he saw me I wasn't exactly all sugar and rainbows.

_'That's putting it mildly.' _Shut it.

"You headin' out somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah..." he replied.

"Can I come with ya?" I smirked a little.

Junpei smirked back at me. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

"So what happened after I left last night?" I asked as we headed to the station. "I miss anything vitally important?"

"I don't remember some of the details." Junpei admitted. "But Ikutsuki-san said that if we kill all those big Shadows that show up on full moons, the Dark Hour will disappear."

"Whoa, seriously?" My eyes went wide with surprise. He nodded. "That's great!"

"Yeah, but that was the whole reason he called the meeting." Junpei frowned. "And you saw Yuka-tan drill Mitsuru-senpai for info."

I sighed. "Yeah..." I shook my head slightly.

"Hey, are you gonna be okay, man?" I looked at Junpei. "I mean, you were so pissed off last night and your eyes turned yellow..."

Huh? "They did what?"

"Right when you were leaving." He stated. "Your eyes were like, glowing yellow or something."

_'Oh bloody hell...'_

Explain. Now.

_'Your emotions were so powerful that you basicly merged with me for a second. And you know what color MY eyes are...'_

Ah. "That was apparently Shade's fault." I sighed. "I swear, basicly EVERYTHING I can do is his fault." I groaned. "It suuuuucks..."

"Dude, what IS Shade, anyways?" Junpei asked. "I mean, he's not a normal Persona, is he?"

I looked at him. "He's not. He's a Shadow."

"WHAT?"

"Relax, he's not gonna kill us." I assured him. You're not, are you?

_'No.'_

Groovy.

"But, why do you have a Shadow in your head?"

"Why do you?"

That confused him.

"Okay, don't repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone. Understand?" He nodded. "Shade is my Shadow, which means he's all my negative emotions and junk I don't talk to people about, except he can talk to me and lets me do crazy stuff. However, because I don't reject those parts of myself, he's not going to go crazy and try to kill me or anything, which means he's basicly a Persona."

"So... Your Shadow is your Persona?" He's still confused.

I shrugged. "He apparently managed to high-jack my Wild Card abilities, which is apparently the technical term for being able to use multiple Personas, and managed to split himself from my other Personas or something. He's not exactly forthcoming on the details because he's not sure how it works either."

"Man..." Junpei groaned. "This is all too confusing..."

I sighed. "How do you think I feel?" I shook my head. "But whatever." I looked back at him. "So how you takin' that whole storm of mind bombs that got dropped last night?"

"I dunno." He sighed. "I mean, it's cool Tartarus and the Dark Hour will be gone, but..."

I raised an eyebrow. "But..?"

"Well, it's just that until recently whenever I thought about the Dark Hour and stuff I'd get pissed off." he told me. "I couldn't figure out why until the last operation." He looked at me. "I was like, 'Fighting is my duty.' but then I thought it was all I'm good for and I'd be worthless..." He turned away. "Then I though I wasn't even good at that, at least not compaired to you. That nothing I did was good enough."

"So, you were jealous of me?"

Junpei nodded. "Yeah, but when you told me I was the hero that time, I realised I'm not worthless." He smiled. "I've just gotta keep at it."

"Yeah." I grinned. "Don't sell yourself short. As far as I'm concerned, you're my right-hand man."

"Really?"

My grin widened. "Hell yeah! Believe it or not, you and Hermes actually hit a lot harder then some of my Personas do. Maybe not quite when it comes to fire and stuff, but your physical skills are probably Second only to Shinjiro's."

"You think so?" Junpei's smile widened as well. I nodded. "Heh, thanks dude!"

"Don't mention it." Brofist. "And hey, try seeing if you can talk to Hermes in your head. Who knows? You might be able to come up with your own thing that I can't do."

"Hey, yeah!" His expression brightened further. "You're probably right!" His grin turned devious. "Just you wait, I'm gonna bust out somethin' that'll blow you outta the water!"

"That's the spirit!" I cheered, patting him on the shoudler. "Now where we goin'?"

Junpei thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno. Wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure!"

* * *

Sadly there movie we wanted to see was sold out and wouldn't be showing again for another couple hours, so we just went to the Arcade and owned each other at BlazBlue for a few hours. On the way out, we stopped by a game store and I saw they were taking Pre-Orders for the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia. You can bet your sweet ass I slapped down some money for that. Vesperia is an awesome game, and from what I read on the internet on Thursday when I was surfing the web instead of studying, there's lots of new features and shit. Imma have to get a PS3 before it comes out.

Anyways, after that we headed back to the dorm. Akihiko and Shinjiro were lounging around, and the girls were nowhere to be seen. Junpei 'n me just shrugged, then took over the TV and played Halo 3 until it was almost the Dark Hour, then we headed to bed. The Dark Hour hit as soon as I got in my room, and Pharos was there waiting for me.

"It's good to see you again." he said with a grin.

"Likewise, Pharos." I smirked, setting my hat on my desk and slipping into my pajamas.

"How long has it been since we first me?" He asked.

"Uh, 'bout three months, actually." I replied. "It was back in April."

Pharos chuckled as I sat down next to him on the bed. "Time passes so quickly."

"Well, nobody can escape it." I said smugly. "It delivers us all to the same end, after all."

He laughed. "That's right. So, how's life as a Persona-user?"

I thought for a moment. "It's different. Kinda fulfilling, I guess, but it does seem like something's missing..." Not sure what, though...

"I wonder what..." Pharos commented. "I hope you find it soon... and I remembered something else about the coming of the end."

"What's that?"

"It all goes back to an occurance that took place many years ago... Ten years ago, if I remember correctly." He stated.

"Frickin' everything traces back to then, doesn't it?" I sighed. "My parents, the Dark Hour, the Full Moon Shadows..."

"Indeed." He agreed grimly, then he stood up and looked at me. "You know, a Persona is like a mirror. Which means a Persona-user can never escape from their true self. Reguardless, I will stay with you..." He smiled. "Because we're friends."

I smiled back. "Thanks, Pharos."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana._

"Goodnight." He said as he vanished through my door. Weird kid, but otherwise pretty cool.

* * *

Went to school alone the next morning, then got pestered by Ms. Terauchi in class when she brought up the American school system. I answered her questions about it, then headed back to the dorm with Junpei after class.

Deciding to screw my own discontentment at the notion of Fuuka and Shinjiro talking about my voice, I played some Megaman X8. Apart from the sound of me kicking ass as Axl, the dorm was oddly quiet while everyone else sat at the table, 'cept Junpei who was sitting next to me.

"Um..." Fuuka began, clearly giving a valiant attempt to break the awkward silence. "Y-You know, it's almost summer break. Do you have any plans?"

"I wish I could go to the beach." Junpei replied instantly, leaning back in his seat. "Hot sand, cool breeze... babes in bikinis... Man, it sure would be nice!" He sighed dreamily. "Somewhere in the south, where the water is crystal clear!"

"I second that." I commented. "And I don't even like hot weather."

He sighed again, this time depressedly. "But first, we have exams to worry about... ugh, what a drag..."

"It won't be too bad, man." I told him, glancing in his direction as I set Bamboo Pandemonium on fire. A lot.

"Roy-kun's right, you'll be fine." said Fuuka. "But yeah, I'd love to go somewhere famous for its beautiful beaches, like Okinawa."

"Well, it's not Okinawa, but how about Yakushima?" NINJA SKETCHTSUKI.

"Mr. Chairman..." Mitsuru is also surprised by his Ninja skills. "I didn't realize you were here."

"Oh, I happened to be in the area, so I thought I'd drop by and tell you my schedule for next week." And why should we care what you're busy not doing? "Mitsuru, your father will be vacationing in Yakushima during the break."

I looked over as the giant Missle bear exploded in defeat. Mitsuru seemed surprised by that information.

"He will...?"

"You'll all have some time off after exams, right?" Sketchtsuki grinned. "Why don't you go and pay him a suprise visit?"

"Seriosuly? We're gonna go on a trip?" Junpei asked, then he looked at me. I grinned.

"YES!" we cheered in unison as we high fived. "Beach babes, here we come!"

Yukari sighed and rolled her eyes. "Men..."

Just for that, I'm going to torment you when we get there, Yukari. No exceptions.

_'I'll hold you to it.'_

Perfect.

"How about it, Mitsuru?" asked the chairman.

"But... my father is a busy man..." Mitsuru stammered. "I wond't want to ruin his vacation."

Sketchtsuki chuckled. "Don't worry, no father would be upset with a daughter who came all that way to see him."

"He's got a point." I chimed in. "Beside, you're basicly the only person here with at least one living parent who doesn't have reasons to NOT want to see them. Besides, we got until next month before the next full moon, and we can just spend the two weeks after exams and the trip to do cover some serious ground in there."

Mitsuru sighed, then smiled. "Alright, I guess everyone needs a break now and then. Let's do it."

"WOOHOO!" Junpei and me threw our arms up in the air in victory.

"Hmm, the beach..." Akihiko smirked and rubbed his chin. "I should design a special training regimen..."

"What is it with you and training all the time?" Shinjiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Dude, I'm stoked!" Junpei said as the two of us walked over to the table.

"I know man, me too!" I grinned. "It'll be a first for me, gettin' to see a Japanese beach in summer."

"I have to go buy a swim suit..." Fuuka mused aloud.

"Hey, don't worry, I've got an extra pair you can borrow."

"No! Bad Junpei!" I said, playfully smacking him in the back of his head. "Not funny!"

"Are you going to swim too, Ikutsuki-san?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I'll be busy with work at the time, but by all means, enjoy yourselves."

"Oh, we will." I grinned. "Trust me, we will."

* * *

Author Notes- Surprised with the Reaper Link? It makes a dramatic return after seven chapters. And Roy really hasn't been acting really friendly around his Social Links, if you think about it. Maiko was an exception becase, ya know, Roy's seen her situation before. And Roy started the Moon Link with Shinjiro! Because I hate Nozumi. A lot. He's fat and his social link is boooooring and laaaaame. And don't ask about why Roy was able to go to Art Club before exams, he just was because I said so, okay? I forgot it was pre-exam week when I first wrote it, but I didn't wanna leave it out so I just rolled with it.

Anyways, next Chapter is the start of the Big Long Yakushima Vaction of Lulz, Plot, Mind Screws, and Robot Girls glomping Roy! It'll either be up later today(it's past midnight right now for me) or it'll be the first chapter of 2011. Either way, enjoy! And in case I don't get Chapter 21 up later, Happy New Years everyone!


	21. Pirates of Yakushima

Pre-chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Frost XZ - **I think the exact word used in the Fairly English Story was "pink barbs" but eh, I'm not going to double check right now. And who knows, maybe if SamJaz ever reads this he'll think I'm refrencing how awesome his story is with that bit or something. Hell if I know.

**Astrih Konnash** - I'm glad you liked that! Although, I think the reason Minato(MC) and Hamuko(FeMC) didn't get the option to flip their shit is because they didn't remember what happened that night(in the game version of the story, anyways). And You've already noticed the trend with the Reaper's Social Link in relation to Roy. Don't spoil it for people, please! And don't worry, I have a friend who is a native english speaker and I have a harder time understanding her. o_O;;

And now, LET THE YAKUSHIMA MADNESS BEGIN!

* * *

Exams were exams, which basicly means they were easy for me because I'm awesome. Spent most of the downtime I had to myself durring class when I finished to seriously think about what the Reaper said to me. Except for Maiko when the whole thing with her parents started seriously going to shit, I just hung out with them all for the link boostage. I mean sure, I did express genuine concern for Kaz's leg and me 'n Junpei are total bros, but I did it because I was getting something from it.

That's no way to treat your friends. At all. So what am I gonna do about it? Be less of a dick. Actually empathize with these people. See if I can't end up making their lives less of a goddamn mess. Act like a moral human being instead of some prick playing a mind game who doesn't give two shits about the people he's manipulating. That's not the kind of person I want to be. That's not the kind of person I'm GOING to be. I mean fuck, if I'd kept up with it chances are probably good I'd end up like Jack Sparrow. While yes, he does have an awesome hat, I really don't want to end up as a manipulative assfuck with chronic backstabbing disorder.

And speaking of Jack Sparrow, I just had a brilliant idea. I'm gonna need a boom box, though... Anyways, I walked to school with Junpei on the last day and he was still really stoked for summer and everything. Once class was over, he practically flew out of his seat.

"I'm done, baby!" He cheered, throwing his arms up. "The dark days of testing are finally over! The sun is shinin' bright!"

"The man speaks the truth!" I exclaimed, dramaticly pointing my hand at Junpei.

Yukari just sighed and rolled her eyes as she stood up. "So, how'd you do?"

"Hey, check it out! I aced P.E.!"

She sighed again. "Well, that pretty much answers that question."

Stop giving me reasons to torment you! I'm going to run out of time to do it at this rate!

"Psh, a real man doesn't dwell on the past..." Junpei scoffed. "I'm already thinkin' ahead to Yakushima!"

"Oh yeah, that's coming up soon, isn't it?" asked Yukari. Wow she's stupid. Now she's looking at me. "Are ya ready?"

"Note quite." I admitted. "I need to get a few things taken care of at the mall, but after that I'm solid."

Yukari raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I countered with my own eyebrow.

"Nothing..." She replied quickly. "I guess I should be more enthusiastic, huh?" She smirked. "Hey, I don't have practice today, so you mind if I tag along?"

I shrugged. "Eh, sure." I looked at Junpei. "You wanna come with?"

"Sure, sounds good!" He said. "So hey, what store we going to?" He grinned and looked at Yukari. "And hey, if you need to buy a swimsuim, I'd be happy to help!"

Yukari stoffed. "As if. Alright, gimme a sec. I'm gonna go grab my stuff from the locker room. Oh, and I'll invite Fuuka too."

"Alright, cool." I commented as she walked away.

"So dude..." Junpei began. "What're you lookin' to get at the mall?"

I grinned. "You'll find out."

* * *

I chatted with Junpei about a few things, mainly that I actually needed a swimsuit because I didn't bring one along when I left. I mean, I never expected to go to the beach AT ALL while I was here.

_'You didn't expect a lot of things that have happened.'_

Good point. But whatever. Now it's me, Junpei, Yukari, Fuuka, Akihiko, and Shinjiro walking together to the front of the school. As if on cue, Junpei and me sprinted out through the front doors, leapt down the steps, moved forward a bit more, then threw our arms up in victory.

"WOOHOOOOO!" We exclaimed. "FREEDOM AT LAST!"

"Geez you two, calm down..." Yukari griped.

"Psh, as if." scoffed Junpei before he turned to Akihiko. "Hey, what're you doing here, Akihiko-san?"

"Ikutsuki-san called me." replied the boxer. "I think he wants to talk about a new candidate."

"Does that mean another person is going to join?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "Probably, knowing Kirijo."

"Fuuka!"

We all turned around to see Natsuki bounding towards us.

_'Isn't she the girl who was picking on Fuuka?'_

Indeed she was. They became friends after she got out of the hospital, remember?

_'Oh yeah.'_

"What's wrong, Natsuki-chan?"

"Do you think you can stay after school with me for a mandatory study session?" Natsuki asked with a pleading look. "There's, like, no one..." She looked at the rest of us. "Oh, you're going back to your 'home' home today, huh?" She sighed. "Okay, nevermind then..."

She started walking away, but Fuuka took a few steps towards her.

"Hey, wait." Fuuka smiled as Natsuki looked back at her. "It's alreight, let's go." She turned to us. "Sorry, I'll see you all later back at the dorm."

The two girls quickly scurried back into the school.

"I'm really surprised how much she's changed." Junpei commented with a smirk.

"I know, right?" I agreed. "It's pretty amazing."

"Ah, friendship... How beautiful!" GAH FUCK NINJA SKETCHTSUKI STRIKES AGAIN! "Adolescence is such a wonderful thing! So full of vibrancy!"

"Mr. Chairman...!"

"Oh, hello." He greeted simply. "I just stopped by to pick someone up. Might as well introduce you to him now." He turned back as a little kid, probably around eleven years old, walked up.

"Hello." He greeted with a smile.

"Oh, hi Ken-kun." Yukari replied. "What's up?"

Akihiko looked at her. "You know him...?"

"He doesn't leave during the break because of his..." Sketchtsuki's eyes darted in my direction for a moment and he winced. "Circumstances."

Yukari winced as well, but didn't look at me. "Oh, I heard about that... Something about his parents..."

"It was only me and my mom..." Ken stated sadly. "But she got in an accident, and she..." He swallowed. "She died. It happened two years ago."

"Right now, one of his distant relatives is paying for his school expenses." continued the Chairman. "But, staying at the elementry school dorm all by himself isn't proper for a child his age." He grinned. "So, I decided to move him to your dorm for the summer."

"To OUR dorm?" Yukari exclaimed. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Why, of course. He has the potential."

I looked at Ken. Sure enough, there's his Persona. Nemisis of the Justice Arcana. Pretty powerful, too. I mean, holy shit, he's got almost Shinjiro-level asswhoop going for him. Kid's got one HELL of an Iron Will.

"Then, he's the new candidate...?" Akihiko sounds less then thrilled. I looked over at him and Shinjiro, and both seemed very on edge. Do they know this kid or something?

"Yes, but as you can see, he's still just an elementary school student." stated Ikutsuki. "So, it is merely a possibility for now."

Akihiko and Shinjiro still look less then thrilled about all this.

"Are you..." began Ken as he walked towards Akihiko. "Sanada-senpai?"

"Um, yeah..." He nodded.

Ken's expression lit up. "I've heard a lot about you. You haven't lost a boxing match yet!"

"Yeah, well..." Akihiko still looks uneasy. "It's nice to meet you..."

* * *

Once that rather awkward situation turtled on by, Junpei 'n me were at the mall with Yukari(Shinjiro and Akihiko were aparently packed already and didn't need anything else). She'd gone off by herself to look for a swimsuit, which left the two of us to do the same. I snagged me a pair of maroon swim trunks, a pair of black sandals because I don't have any myself and I hate flip flops, a pair of those water slipper thingies because I do like swimming but hate going barefoot on the beach, a pair of grey jean shorts(well they were actually a bit long on me surprisingly, so there' more like capris), a light grey tanktop and a like-colored muscle shirt, a lightweight red button-up shit, and a black bucket hat because there is no way in hell I'm going to run the risk of getting my fedora dunked in the ocean.

Junpei got himself a pair of dark blue swimtrunks and an orange inflatable floating ring thing while we were there, then I sent Yukari a message because I wanted to head to a few other shops and she still wasn't done getting whatever she was getting.

"Dude, why are we here?" Junpei asked as we headed towards a costume shop. I grinned.

"The answer to that is simple, Mr. Iori." I said in my best attempt at talking like a pirate in Japanese. "We be needin' a few... things, as it were."

Junpei grinned as well. "Ah, now I see what ye be plannin', cap'n. What we be needin', exactly?"

_'This is going to be so awesome._'

I know, man. I know.

* * *

So after me and Junpei got the stuff from the costume shop, he headed back to the dorm alone to start packing seeing as I still needed something.

"Hey Igor." I said as I entered the Velvet Room. "Hey Elizabeth."

"Greetings, Master Roy." replied the Velvet Attendant. "How may we assist you?"

I smiled as Shade walked in. "Well, there's this thing I'm going to need your help with..."

* * *

I went back to the dorm once my buisness was concluded in the Velvet Room and I snagged a boom box from the music store. This is going to be the best vacation EVER if I have anything to say about it.

_'Better then the trip to Vegas?'_

Damn STRAIGHT better then the trip to Vegas.

_'Sweeeet.'_

Once I was at the dorm, I hurried up to my room with my bags of stuff and got to packing. A few changes of regular clothes, the new beach stuff I bought, and a few Inventory Cards(namely the one with my Evoker in case I need it). I also stuffed the new stereo I got(it's small and portable, obviously) into an extra bag along with the stuff from the costume shop.

After that, I hung out in the lounge for a while playin' Ratchet: Deadlocked's Co-op campaign on my PS2 with Junpei. And we were kicking ASS. I have mad dodging skills, so I just turned on the Shield Link and kept Junpei in an impenetrable barrier basicly forever while dodging shit like crazy as he plowed through with whatever weapon he was using at the time.

"I can't wait for Monday!" Junpei commented as we faced off against Reactor. "Yakushima, here we come! And then, one week of school 'til summer break! Frickin' awesome, dude!"

"Damn STRAIGHT!" I agreed. "Okay, watch out for this. He gets pretty hard to hit when he does that fly-by death ray spam thing."

"Aren't you two getting a little carried away?" Yukari asked from her spot on a nearby chair. "I mean, the trip is only for a few days, and we'll still have to fight Shadows over summer break. In other words, we can't affoard to stop training in Tartarus..."

"I know, I know!" Junpei griped as he tanked hits for me with the Sheild Link I was giving him. "But my energy level is so high durring summer, no one can stop me! Anyway, tomorrow I'm gonna start packing." He glanced over at me. "You wanna hit Tartarus tonight?"

I shook my head. "Nah, we're gonna blaze a trail once we get back." AND REACTOR GOES DOWN! Yesss. "I mean, why start wear ourselves out before we get to the beach, right?"

Junpei just shrugged "Alright, cool."

* * *

The entirety of Sunday was spent finishing my packing and helping Junpei with his. Yukari left with Fuuka to help her pick out a swimsuit early on, so once we were done getting our stuff together, we just chilled in the lounge. Wasn't exactly up for any video games so me and Junpei were sittin' there with Akihiko and Shinjiro.

The room was mostly silent, save for Junpei occasionally turning the page of the issue of Shonen Jump he was reading. Akihiko was polishing his boxing gloves, and Shinjiro seemed to just be asleep. Me? I'm sketching. Just random doodles of stuff, nothing really big.

"So, you two packed?" Shinjiro asked suddenly. I glanced up from my drawing.

"Yeah." I replied. Junpei nodded in affirmation as well.

"Good." He said. "And, hey, Roy..."

I looked up again. "Yeah?"

Shinjiro and Akihiko glanced at each other, then back at me.

"You gonna be okay?" Akihiko asked. "I mean, you were really angry the other day when Mitsuru told us about her grandfather..."

I sighed. Forgot the only people who really know I've gotten my head on right are Junpei and Yukari. I looked at the resident Bash Brothers and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Shinjiro gave me a serious look. "You're sure?"

"Very." I replied. "I shouldn't be letting the past haunt me, seeing as there's nothing I can do about it." I smirked. "After all, what I know is that no one can change the past. What I know is that anyone can change the future."

"Interesting motto."

I turned around to see Yukari and Fuuka standing in the doorway. The shorter girl was holding a shopping bag, and was looking at me in surprise. I glanced back at Aki and Shinji, and the former was equally surprised while the latter was hiding a smirk. I just shrugged.

"Eh, I forget it sometimes. I'm only human, after all." I said, returning my attention to my sketches. "And, hey, don't metion this to Mitsuru, okay? I wanna be the one to tell her..." I winced slightly. "And apologize..."

I got murmurs of agreement from everyone present.

* * *

Went to bed a little while later, and woke up before my alarm. I got dressed, then dragged my stuff down to the lounge and opted to just make myself a plate of scrambled eggs. Yeah, I cook, but my skills are ludicrously basic. grilled cheese, shrimp, eggs, if it's hilariously easy to make I can do it.

Once I'd started cookin' 'em up, though, I realized everyone else would probably smell it and ask for some, so I just said 'fuck it' and started makin a huge batch.

"What smells good...?" I looked over my shoulder to see Junpei and Akihiko peering into the kitchen, barely concious.

"Breakfast." I replied, returning my attention to the food.

"You can cook?" Whoa, Shinjiro's there too.

"A little." I admitted. I've got two pans of scrambled eggs cooking right now on this damn stove and am trying to keep them from burning. "Now unless you wanna help, get outta here and let me work."

"Shove over."

I got semi-tossed to one side as Shinjiro strode up behind me and took one of the pans of eggs from me. I raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He gave me a glancing glare.

I shook my head. "Nothin'."

* * *

So yeah, Shinjiro can cook. He also thought that just scrambled eggs wasn't enough, so we ended up cookin' some bacon and toast to go with it. Fuuka wanted to get in on the action, but I insisted we had it covered and got her to get drinks for everyone.

"Dude, this is great!" Junpei commented with his mouthful.

"Eh, it's nothin' special." I shrugged before taking a bite of toast.

"Any reason for this?" Yukari asked.

I shrugged again. "I started makin' some eggs for myself, then figure'd you guys'd ask what smelled good and just went ahead and started makin' more. Shinjiro came in when I was halfway done and helped out." Nom me some BACON. "You can thank him for suggesting the bacon, by the way."

"It's not a homemade breakfast without bacon." Shinjiro stated, holding up one of the strips from his plate. "No exceptions."

"Truer words have never been spoken!" I agreed, raising my glass of grape juice.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana_.

And I thank the Moon Arcana and all the hidden depths it represents.

* * *

Once we'd all polished off the breakfast feast of deliciousness, everyone started getting ready to leave. Then Mitsuru came up to me as I was taking care of the dishes.

"Fortune?" I turned to look at her. "Thank you for the meal. It was delicous."

I smiled. "Hey, no problem." I winced slightly. "And uh, sorry about screaming at you last week. I never really got over what happened back then." I sighed. "It wasn't right of me to blame your grandfather for what happened to my family."

Mitsuru seemed surprised, but she hid it well. My poker face is still better.

"It's alright..." She said. "I probably should have said something sooner..."

I chuckled darkly. "I should have as well." I have her a weak grin. "Guess that makes us both at fault, huh?"

Mitsuru chuckled slightly as well. "I suppose it does."

"Yeah..." I shook my head a little. "Anyways, just gimme a sec to get this and I'll come help you with your lugauge if you'd like."

"That won't be necissary." She stated. "I didn't pack very much."

I shrugged. "Alright then."

* * *

I'm only going to say this: Limos are freaking awesome and getting to ride in one to the boat dock as the start to our trip was even more awesome.

Now, before we left I found out there's apparently a song about being on a boat floating around the internet. I say fuck that song, because there is something far more important and awesome to do when you're on a boat with a bunch of friends!

That said, the boat we're on is actually kinda small, but that's not going to stop me. I came up from below deck with that boom box I bought and the bag from the costume shop.

"JUNPEI." I called out once I was on deck. "It's time!"

"Alright!" He darted over to me and started rumaging through the bag. Akihiko and Shinjiro looked at us curiously as I set down the stereo and hooked up my MP3 player to it.

"What're you doing?" asked the boxer.

"That not be a matter ye should concern yerself with, land lubber." Junpei stated, standing up with a plastic pirate sword in his hand, a pirate hat on his head over his regular cap, and a grin on his face. "Right Cap'n Fortune?"

"Aye, First Mate Iori!" I agreed, stuffing my Fedora into the back and replacing it with a pirate hat of my own and brandishing my own toy cutlass as I turned on the boom box.

Then the Pirates of the Carribean theme started playing at high volume.

Akihiko and Shinjiro raised an eyebrow at the two of us as we stood there in pirate hats holding plastic weapons. They looked at each other, then back at us.

"What?" We asked in unison.

"Turn that off." Akihiko said flatly.

"And take off the stupid hats." grunted Shinjiro.

"No one tells Captain Roy Fortune what to do!" I barked, holding up my toy sword. "I'll make ye walk the plank fer that, ya scurvy bilge rats!"

"I'd like to see you try!" challenged Akihiko as he took up a stance.

"Then have at thee!"

* * *

"ARRGH!" **CRACK**

I locked plastic blades with Akihiko as Junpei clashed with Shinjiro. Akihiko was wearing an eyepatch over his left eye and Shinjiro had replaced his usual beanie with a red and while pirate bandana.

Yes, me and Junpei actually convinced them to go along with it. I'm still not even sure how, but now the four of us are having a pirate fight(me and Junpei VS Akihiko and Shinjiro) as the girls watch. Well, actually Fuuka wanted to join in because 'it looked like fun' so now she's got a black pirate bandana of her own on and is holding Mitsuru 'hostage'(and she teased Akihiko about coming to rescue her, proving that she is capable of goofing off just as much as the rest of us) while the four of us fight over her. Because apparently Akihiko and Shinjiro are heroic pirates or something, I don't know. Yukari's just looking at all of this and shaking her head probably. Sucks to be her, what with being incapable of having fun.

"You'll never see the fair lass again, Cap'n Sanada!" I snarled. "I'll run ya through!"

The Pirates theme is still playing durring all of this, by the way. I got it set to repeat.

"Don't count on it, Fortune!" He countered as he pushed me back at little and we went back to trading sword blows. "I'll send ya ta Davey Jones Locker along with yer first mate!"

* * *

Sadly we got to Yakushima before we could finish the fight, so we had no way of knowing who'd be sniffing the deck for peanuts. We packed up the pirate stuff and agreed that is was an awesome way to start the vacation. Except Yukari, but nobody cared.

Also, there's another Limo here for us. Sweeeeeet.

* * *

I whistled as we entered the big huge mansion Mitsuru called a vacation home. I mean seriously, this place is HUGE.

"Wow..." Fuuka put the general concensus into words.

"It's like we're in an expisode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Fabulous..."

_'I didn't think Junpei would even watch that kind of show.'_

Ya learn somethin' new everyda- Holy shit those are maids.

_'Hot Japanese Maids.'_

"Welcome back, Milady." They bowed in unison as they spoke.

"And you must be her schoolmates, correct?" asked one of them. "Welcome to the Kirijo vacation home. Please follow me."

"Um, is this the right place?" Yukari is disbelieve.

"Dude." Junpei elbowed me. "Real-life maids."

I held my hand out for a brofist. "I know." Brofist.

We started following the maids when this really serious looking dude with an eyepath appeared. He was silent, then started walking past us, but stopped near Mitsuru.

"It's good to see you." She said, smiling. He glanced in her direction, then walked away.

"Was that...?"

"...her father?" Yukari finished for Fuuka.

"Dude, talk about scary!" Junpei commented. "He's not gonna make us walk the plank, is he?"

"Only one be makin' lubbers walk the plank be Cap'n Fortune!" I stated, lapsing back into my pirate accent.

Akihiko sighed and shook his head. "Don't be stupid, you two..."

Mitsuru chuckled at our sillyness. "We won't be here long, but make yourself at home."

"Sweet!" Both me and Junpei cheered. I swear, we've got like a mind synch goin'.

"This is gonna rock!" he continued, then he looked at the rest of us. "Hey, wanna go to the beach? It's right there." He started grinning. "Dude, this place rules! Come on, let's go!"

"What, already?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, jeez dude, calm down." I said. "Most of us still have to get changed, so you just go on ahead."

"Hell yeah!" He shouted, starting off. "I'm not gonna waste a single minute!"

_'Loveable scamp.'_

I know, right?

* * *

"Yeah, now we're talking!" I grinned as I strolled onto the beach with Akihiko and Shinjiro. I got a towel slung over my shoulders. I got my muscle shirt on along with my trunks and bucket hat, plus a pair of shades(because I'm cool) and my water slipper things on my feet. "Never been much of a beach person, but damn it this is just awesome!"

"I know man!" Junpei called out from over near an umbrella. "Summer's here!"

"Darn, there's nothing out there I can use as a marker..." sighed Akihiko. "Too bad, I was hoping for a good swim..."

"You're kiddin' me, right?" asked Junpei. "We come all the way to the beach and you're gonna train?"

"What's wrong with that?" countered the boxer. I still don't understand why he's wearing a t-shirt and a speedo, nor do I want to.

"He means you don't know how to take it easy." Commented Shinjiro. He was sensable and is wearing a pair of black swimtrunks. Kinda weird seein' him without his beanie, though.

"Yeah, listen to the man!" I agreed, setting my towel down at the umbrella and setting my hat down and dropping my shades into it. "Ya gotta learn to live a little, Akihiko."

"See, they get it!"

Akihiko just scoffed. "You got a better idea, Junpei?"

He grinned. "Damn right, I do! It's summertime at the beach!" He turned his head a little. "And I've got the perfect activity!"

I followed Junpei's gaze. Hey, it's Yukari in a bikini top and denim short-shorts with a pair of sunglasses resting on her forehead. Not bad eye candy.

"What?" She asked when she noticed the four of us looking at her.

"Please say hello to contestant Number one, Yukari Takeba!" Junpei began, holding an invisible microphone. "As you can see, she's chosen quite the bold design- quite unexpected. It takes a hell of a lot of confidence to pull off a swimsuit like that!"

Yukari started glaring at him, but he just played innocent and whistled a little. I suppressed a chuckle as Fuuka walked over in a teal tankini.

"Is that umbrella taken?" She asked, pointing at the one a short ways behind me that I dropped my stuff at.

"And here's contestant number two, Fuuka Yamagishi!" said Junpei, once again playing MC. "And what a feast for the eyes! I mean, wow, Fuuka, I had no idea you were so... I mean, you should wear a swimsuit more often!"

"Huh?" Fuuka tilted her head in confusion, then she realized what he was up to and paniced slightly, her face turning red as she hid behind Yukari. I have to admit, though, Fuuka DOES look good in that swimsuit.

"Oh come on, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!" Junepi grinned with a laugh.

"Stop that creepy laugh, you perv!" For once I agree with Yukari, that laugh was high up on the Ped-o-Meter.

"And now, here comes our final contestant, Mitsuru Kirijo!" He exclaimed, dramaitcly pointing a- DAMN.

"Hm?" Mitsuru seemd confused. "Is something wrong?"

For the record, she's wearing a two-piece white bikini with one of those drape things tied around her waist and a red flower on the left side of the bikini top.

"Wow, Mitsuru-senpai..." Fuuka stammered. "You're beautiful..."

"Yeah, you skin is flawless!" Chirped Yukari as she and Fuuka started crowding around her. "Did you already put on sunscreen?"

Mitsuru, understandably moderately freaked out, shook her head. "N-No, not yet..."

The two younger girls then lead Mitsuru slightly farther away from us guys, probably to avoid seeing us watch as they sexually assult her.

_'Spoil sports.'_

I know right? Anyways, Junpei walked up next to me with a smirk on his face.

"So... which one's your type?"

"Honestly? None of them are exactly my type." I admitted. "But Fuuka's close."

"Oh, reeeally?" Junpei reased an eyebrow. "Very interesting." He shook his head slightly. "Anyways, this is great! I'm in heavin!" He turned towards the water. "How 'bout a swim?" He got into a crouch. "Buh buh buh bump ba baa! CHARGE!"

Junpei bolted for the water with Akihiko apparently deciding to race him. Shinjiro just sighed and started down the beach himself. It's days like this that just make life seem simple, ya know? I sighed and shook my head, then began walking only to get the very certain feeling someone is watching me. I looked over my shoulder and scanned the tree line for anyone who might be hiding there.

"Whoa, it's cold!" Junpei shouted before he started laughing. Whoever was watching me presumably left, because I stopped getting that 'I'm being watched' vibe. I just shrugged it off. "C'mon Roy, get over here!"

"Alright, outta the way!" I called out, sprinting towards the water. "'CAUSE HERE COMES THE WILD CARD!"

* * *

After some fun at the beach, the lot of us eventually returned to the mansion to chill for a bit before dinner. Thankfully I managed to snag one of the bathrooms first so I could shower. Once that was done, I was relaxing in my room with my new boom box playin' tunes while I sketched what a Pirate crew consisting of all current members of SEES would look like.

Naturally I am the captain because I'm the artist.

_'And the only other people awesome enough to be captain are not.'_

Exactly. And who's that knocking on my door? "Yes?"

"Pardon me, sir, but Lady Mitsuru has requested all members of SEES come to her fathers office in ten minutes."

I set my art stuff down. Serious buisness time. "Thanks. Anything else?"

"No, that is all. Please excuse me."

I sighed.

_'This might get bad again. Be ready.'_

Alright.

* * *

I changed into my summer casual and put my fedora on before I headed to the office in question. One of the maids was kind enough to show me the way. I've also noticed that every maid I've seen here is at least moderately hot. Must be par for the course in Japan. Ya know, 'cause they're weird like that.

Anywho, now we're sitting on this huge sofa in Mitsuru's Dad's office. There were quick introductions from all of us newbies and Takeharu(her dad's first name) before we really got down to buisness.

"From what I understand, Mitsuru has already given you the short version." Yukari nodded. "Well, it's true..." He sighed. "We adults are to blame. If I could've atoned for it with my life, I would have done so. Now, I have no choice but to rely on you." He straightened in his seat. "What my father wanted to create with those monsters' power... was a time manipulation device."

"That's what he was trying to do?" Mitsuru asked. Clearly she's not privvy to all the details, and the look on her face says she's just as in the dark about everything her Dad is going to tell us as we are.

"Imagine if you could control the flow of time..." said Takeharu. "Eliminate unwanted events before they occur. With such a device, you could shape the future to your liking."

"Damn, that's insane..."

This was back before Hitler's Time Travel Exhemption Clause was widely known, Junpei, so yeah. Very insane.

"However, under my father's direction, the research began to stray from its original goal. In his later years, my father seemed to only have nihilism in his heart." He sighed. "Now that I think about it, his madness may have resulted from his struggle to break freee from that." His expression hardened. "It's only natural that you want to know the truth..." He held up a remote and pressed a buttom. "And it's my duty to tell you."

A projector turned on from behind Takeharu.

"What's this...?" asked Akihiko.

"This is the only existing footage of the accident, recorded by a scientist who was at the scene." Explained the elder Kirijo.

_["I pray that this recording reaches sage hands..."]_ Began a man with short brown hair wearing a lab coat. There was a cut on his face and a few dark splotches facing the camera.

"That voice...!" Yukari recognising that guy **CANNOT BE GOOD.**

_["My employer has become obsessed with a loathsome idea. This experiment should have never even been concieved..."] _continued the scientist. _["I'm afraid what I've done will result in an unprecedented disaster... but if I hadn't, the entire world may have paid the price..."]_

"The entire world?" both me and Fuuka asked at the same time. Shit's getting very real, very quickly.

_["Please, listen carefully... The Shadows that were amassed here have been dispersed as a result of the explosion. To end this nightmare, you must eliminate all of them!"]_ The man sighed sadly. _["I am to blame for this. I knew the risks, but I was blinded by the promise of success... and so, I didn't raise any objections... It is all my fault..."]_

There was a sudden flash, then the video cut off. Yukari sprang to her feet, tears in the corners of her eyes. "...Dad..."

Oh. Fuck.

"You mean..." stammered Fuuka. "That was...?"

"Damn it..." Shinjiro swore.

Yukari was silent, her head down. Mitsuru looked at her own parent. "Father..."

"His name was Eiichiro Takeba... he was the head researcher at the time, and a very talented man." Said Takeharu firmly. "But, we are the ones who are responsible. We pushed him to continue the research. The Kirijo Group is to blame for his death."

"I... I can't believe it..." Yeah, Mitsuru had no idea about any of this until now.

"So, that means... my dad caused it all...?" asked Yukari. She was already starting to cry. "The Dark Hour, Tartarus... The people who died in that incident... Roy's parents..." I winced. "It was all his fault...?"

"Y-You okay?" No, Akihiko, she is not okay. Not by a long shot.

"So, that's why you were hiding this...?" Now Yukari is getting angry. "Because you felt sorry for me?" She glared at Mitsuru. "Is that it!"

"No, Takeba, I..."

"I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY!" Yukari screamed, then she barreled out of the room. There was a long silence.

I sighed. "I'll go get her." I stood up. "Less chance of her doing something stupid and hurting somebody that way."

* * *

I found Yukari standing near out on the beach by herself, just staring out at the ocean.

"I believed in him for so long..." She began as I walked over. Probably heard my footsteps. "This is too much... Remember what I told you at the hospital...?" Yeah, I do. "How my dad died when I was little...? You understand now, right...?" She sniffled. "He died in that incident. Nobody knew the truth, so there were all sorts of rumors... because he was in charge of the reasearch team, people were really mean to me and my mom... We even had to move a few times."

I have no fucking idea what to say to her.

"But all this time, I kept telling myself it wasn't his fault. I love him a lot, and believe he'd never do anything wrong." She glanced back at me. "I received a letter back in the spring. It was from him, written ten years ago..." She chuckled. "It cracked me up cuz, even though it said 'To my family', it was pretty much all about me. That only made me believe in him more..." Yukari sighed. "When I found out I had a special power, I thought it was fate. I was scared, but I thought if I cooperated with the Kirijo Group, I might find out what really happened. That's why I agreed to fight using my Persona." She looked downwards. "But, it turns out... all of that was for nothing..."

I have even less of an idea of what to say now. I'm just going to keep my mouth shut until I can think of something.

"Why does reality have to be so harsh...?" She started crying again. "I tried so hard to fight my fear, and this is what I get... Maybe I'm just jealous of Mitsuru-senpai. I mean, why my father and not hers...?" She chuckled darkly. "I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

"No, Mitsuru's grandfather was a horrible person." I stated. "He's the one who got your dad to work on the experiment in the fucking first place."

"Oh, well aren't you just Mr. Know-it-all!" Yukari snarled, turning around to face me. "You think you're just so much better because yo-"

_**SMACK**_

Yukari stumbled and fell down onto the sand, then looked back up at me with her hand on her face where I slapped her. Hard.

"That." I growled, lowering my arm as I trembled with barely restrained fury. "Right there. Is proof. I'm not better." I intensified my glare. "I never, EVER want to hear you say that to ANYONE else. If I do, I'll slap you HARDER."

I spun on my heels and started away from her. "Come back to the mansion when you feel like doing your dad proud and ending all this."

* * *

Once I got to the edge of the beach, Junpei appeared.

"Hey, where's Yuka-tan?" He asked.

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. "On the beach being herself. Approach at your own risk." I moved around Junpei and kept walking. I heard him call out as he moved towards Yukari.

_'That was a bit harsh, man.'_

Yeah, but she needed it. She really, really needed it. Sh-

_'Someone's there.'_

I froze. Shade's right, there's someone watching me from somewhere. I quickly looked around, then spotted a shape in the darkness near a tree.

"Hey!" I called out. The shape moved, as if it noticed me, something started running away.

"Wait!" I dove into the brush after the person. I only caught fleeting glimpses of someone in blue in the moonlight before I finally lost track of them.

_'Who was that?'_

I don't know. But something tells me we'll be seeing whoever that was again soon.

* * *

Author Note - Indeed you will, Roy. And if you know who the mysterious person Roy encountered is, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF OR I WILL STAB YOU WITH A BLUNT OBJECT. Don't ask how, but I will.

And also, leaving off where I did means one thing: Chapter 22 starts off with OPERATION BABE HUNT! Oh HOO~ is that going to be _FUN. _mwehehehehe...


	22. Babes, Bots, and Monsters

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash -** Thankies. I'll but the hammer next to my Anti-Spoiler Nuclear Missile Launcher. =D And I like calling him Sketchtsuki. It makes me laugh. And The pirate thing was one of MANY scenes I've been wanting to write since this story started. A few more are in this chapter. And Bacon is one of the greatest substances known to man, so clearly you were not awesome enough to handle it for breakfast at the time. And orignally, I had actually planned for the '10 years past' scene to have Roy shouting a lot more, but he's mostly already vented a lot back durring his earlier meltdown in chapter 20, so I got Droplet of Sour to help me fix it so that something cool still happens.

AND NOW, COMMENCE OPERATION BABE HUNT!

* * *

I went to bed once I got back to the mansion. The bed in my room is super comphy and it makes me happy.

Next morning I was at the beach with the guys. I wasn't in the mood to swim today, so I've got my not-shorts on along with my tanktop, button-up shirt(left open, naturally) and my bucket hat and sandals. My shades are in the pocket of my shirt.

"Dude, why're you wearin' that?" Junpei asked me.

"Don't feel like swimmin'." I told him. "Where are the girls?"

Akihiko held up a piece of paper. "Fuuka left a note."

Junpei looked at it. "It says 'We've gone to see the Jyomon-Ceder Tree.'..." It took a few moments for that to sink in. "Aw man, what! We're at an island resort in the middle of summer! Why don't they go to the beach?"

"Well, it IS your fault." Akihiko said bluntly.

Shinjiro nodded. "You were actin' like a creep."

"Whaddya mean?" He asked. "I-I was just tryin' to lighten up the mood..."

The boxer scoffed. "I don't want to hear it."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway!" Junpei declared. "We're on our own now, just the guys!" Shinjiro raised an eyebrow at him. "If you're outta ammo, you pick it up on the battlefield! That's one of the most basic military tactics!" It's also the most common feature of First Person Shooter Video games, but I'll let Junpei have his fun. "We'll call this Operation Babe Hunt!"

What.

"'Babe Hunt'?" Akihiko asked in confusion. "You mean, like, pick up girls...?"

"Waddya think, Akihiko-san?" Junpei grinned. "With you and Shinjiro-senpai on the squad, we're guaranteed to succeed."

I looked at Shinjiro. "You wanna do this?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "Actually sounds interesting." Meaning he wants to see how quickly Junpei can screw this up.

_'I thought you two were bros.'_

Yeah, but this is Junpei trying to pick up chicks. The only thing that will happen is shit going horribly wrong. No offence to the guy or nothing, but, well...

"What do you think about this?" Asked Akihiko, looking at me.

I pulled my shades out of my pocket and slipped them on with a serious expression. "Let's beging the operation."

"Alright." Akihiko sighed. "Then I'm appointing you our leader, as usual."

"What?" Junpei is disappoint. "Why?"

Shinjiro grinned. "You did say this is an operation."

"Aw, man!" He whined. "That's bullshit!"

The Bash Brothers chuckled to themselves and started walking away. Junpei looked at me with his own serious face.

"You better take this seriously..." He told me. "It's an important operation."

I nodded. "Roger."

The two of us then followed after the seniors, catching up in time to spot a few girls sitting around an umbrella.

"Oooh! We found som senoritas!" whistled Junpei. "Let's go hit on 'em!"

**SLAPSLAP**

That was the sound of Akihiko and Shinjiro facepalming in unison.

"Beep... beep... BEEP! Target confirmed!" Junpei declared. "Let's move in for the kill!"

**SLAPSLAP**

That was the sound of Akihiko and Shinjiro facepalming in unison a second time with their other hand for a Facepalm x2 combo.

"This is my area of expertise, so listen up!" began the ringleader of all this crazy. "First off, thinkg of something to talk about- something they might be interested in. Give them an easy question to get the ball rollin', that's the golden rule."

"No, the golden rule is 'If Roy starts talking and making up a bullshit story, do not stop him, just roll with it.'" I said. "Trust me on this, I'm a fantastic liar when I want to be."

The three of them all looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, don't look at me like that." I growled. "Let's just give it a shot already."

"Alright, here we go." Junpei replied as the four of us walked over to the girls. Three of them, all in bikinis of different colors. One green, one orange, and one yellow. "Hey, ladies!"

"How's it goin'?" I asked, smirking slightly.

The girl in green looked over at us. "None of your buisness."

"Hey, no need to be shy..." said Junpei cooly. "We don't bite..."

Yellow raised an eyebrow. "Why should we tell you?"

"Come on, cut us some slack, we just wanna talk..."

Akihiko nudged Junpei.

"I thought you said you were an expert." He hissed.

"Hold your horses, I'm just getting warmed up. Watch and learn..." He returned his attention to the girls. "So, ladies, are you in college?"

Orange's face shifted into a slightly offended expression. "Umm... Don't tell me you guys are still in high school..."

I shrugged. "So what if we are?"

"High school kids vacationing in Yakushima?" Green asked, folding her arms. "That kind of pisses me off."

"Well excuse us for not having a choice in coming here." I grumbled.

The girls were confused.

"What're you talking about?" asked Orange.

"The four of us have been busting our asses doin' part time work since this time last year to go somewhere nice for our post-exam break this time around." I said. "Especially because those two-" I jerked my thumb in the direction of Akihiko and Shinjiro. "-are graduating this year so we won't get to hang out as much after that."

"If that's the case, then why are you here?" Yellow gave us another eyebrow raise, this one of confusion.

"Our friend invited us to their vacation house." Akihiko told them.

"More like dragged us along." I griped. "Just came up right before exams and said 'Hey, I'm going to visit my dad at the family vacation house and you're all coming with me!' and didn't let us say no." I sighed. "As nice as it is here, I'd have rather gone anywhere else."

"Really?" Green seemed to be buying my story. "And how long have you lived in Japan?"

"Me?" she nodded. Must've noticed I look kinda foriegn. "I was born here. My dad was American, though. I lived here till I was six, then my family moved to America for a while, then came back a couple years ago, why?"

"Because you can tell pretty good stories."

I chuckled. "Aw, you saw through that whole shpiel..." I gave her a hopeful look. "Do I at least get points for trying?"

Green giggled. "Only a few."

"Hey, stop giving them compliments and just ignore 'em..." said Orange. Don't think she likes us. "C'mon, let's get going."

"Yeah..." Yellow agreed as she and Green stood up from the chairs they were resting on.

"W-Wait, don't do that!" Junpei began suddenly. "How can you bla-MMRHG"

I had my hand clamped over his mouth. I smiled and tipped my hat slightly. "Good day to you, ladies."

Green and Yellow giggled a little and waved at us as they walked off with their friend. Not a total failure, but not exactly a victory either.

"Dude, what the hell!" Junpei asked as I let go of him.

"We'd already struck out, so whatever you wanted to say wouldn't have done any good." I said.

Akihiko sighed. "So much for your 'expertise.'" He said that last word with finger quotes.

"Hey, I did my best!" Junpei snapped. "What about you, Senpai? You think you can do any better? Come on, show us what you got!"

"Wh-Why should I?" Aki sounds nervous.

"Well, you're supposed to be a tactical master, right?" prodded Junpei. "And, isn't it our duty to help each other succeed?"

"He's got a point there, Aki." Shinjiro commented. He's been kinda quiet, actually.

"Fine, I'll give it a shot." Akihiko sighed. "I'm sure I'll do better than you." He looked at me. "Can you give me a hand, Roy? I'll set the pace, of course."

I nodded. "Sure thing."

"I'll find you some targets then..." Junpei said, scanning the beach before pointing at a far away umbrella. "Right over there!"

The four of us casually walked over closer to the umbrella in question. Two girls, one in a black two-piece bikini, the other in a red one, were sitting there. Black is Empress arcana and Red is Lovers. We stopped a short distance away.

"What are you waiting for, Akihiko-san?" egged Junpei. "Show us how it's done."

"Just keep your mouth shut..." grunted the boxer.

"Hey, Nobuko..." I glanced over my shoulder. Black was talking to her friend, and we were close enough that I could hear them. "Are they staring at us?"

Red nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Wow, Yoshie, you can see from there?"

"That's my cue." commented Aki confidently before we approached. Junpei and Shinji hung back a little as I stood next to Akihiko.

"H-Hi. Sorry to bother you..." Akihiko began shakily. "But, I wanted to ask you something..."

Yoshie raised her eyebrow and looked at us from the beach chair she was leaning back in. "Yes?"

"Um... are you here alone?"

Nobuko giggled. "Are you hitting on us?"

"N-No, not at all..." Oh hell, now he's blushing a little and tripping over himself. It's like if Chihiro was a guy and older then me. Also capable of punching my jaw out of place. "We just thought that if you're bored, you might wanna talk, and, ya know, we could get to know each other better."

"Um, that's what it means to hit on someone." Yoshie stated flatly. "Don't you know...? It's so lame to hit on girls at the beach..."

"We were bored anyway, so why don't we just play along?" Nobuko commented to her friend, then she looked at us. "Hey, you guys are kinda cute."

"Nobuko!"

She igored her friend and kept talking. "Hey, how old do you think we are?"

I sized them up quickly. "I'd say around Twenty or Twenty-one."

"Seriously? We look that young?" Nobuko had a faint blush on her face. "Wow, you just made my day... even though I know you're just trying to flatter us." She sighed. "To tell you the truth, we're older then that."

"Oh, really?" Akihiko sounds disappointed. "Tha-"

"Dude, wait!" Junpei piped up. "Don't you know older women are more experienced? They're like fine wines!"

"You're a pretty smooth talker for someone so young." commented Yoshie. "How old are you guys, anyways?"

"We're in high school." DAMN IT JUNPEI

"I'll be graduating next year." **DAMN IT AKIHIKO**

"Tch. What do you think?" GOOD ANSWER, SHINJIRO

"That's a bummer..." Nobuko sighed. "We're not astrologically compatible."

"Look, it isn't gonna happen, so just give it up." grunted Yoshie. "You don't even seem like you're having fun talking to us."

"I am." I said, pointing my thumb at myself. "He's not-" I pointed at Akihiko. "-He doesn't care-" I jerked my thumb over my shoulder towards Shinjiro. "-And that one's got his mind in the gutter." I finally pointed at Junpei.

"Hey!" Sorry Junpei, you gotta take one for the team.

Nobuko giggled. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm just weird like that."

"But, we don't even have anything to talk about..." she pouted. How can a woman likely in her late twenties pull that off SO WELL? "Except work, and that's just complaints..."

Akihiko seemed hopeful. "Well, that might be interesting..."

"You're not very good at lying, are you?" Yoshie doesn't appear to like us that much. I'd wager she probably HAS a boyfriend already. "You don't have to pretend to be interested."

"Come on, Yoshie, give him a break..." Nobuko elbowed her friend. "He said he's interested, right?"

"Why are you being so nice to them, Nobuko?"

"Are you kidding?" she raised an eyebrow. "When was the last time we were hit on?"

"It was his idea." I said quickly, pointing at Junpei again.

"Dude, not cool!"

Nobuko giggled again. "At least you're honest about it."

"Honesty is a good policy." I replied, adjusting my glasses. "Ya just gotta know when to apply it."

"Yeah..." sighed Nobuko. "Like us. We kinda already have boyfriends..."

"What?" asked Junpei, clearly depressed.

"Yeah, sorry..." Nobuko apologized.

"Hey, let's head back." said Yoshie, sitting up. "They're waiting for us."

"Well, we gotta go." stated Nobuko, looking at us. "We're having a barbeque at the villa." Her expression brightened a little. "You guys can come if you want."

"Nah, we'll be fine." I said, pulling a mini sketch pad out of my pocket along with a pencil. Because I wasn't expecting to be trying to pick up chicks when I stuffed it in my pocket. "But hey..." I flipped to a blank page, then jotted down my cell number before I tore it off and handed it to Nobuko. "If you decide to have a game of poker or something after ya eat, gimme a call."

She giggled. "Okay." She looked at the note, then tucked it into her beach bag once she picked it up. "See ya!"

"Later Days, ladies!" I said with a smirk as they walked away.

I turned around and Junpei was just glaring at me.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow. "They might have friends who are single, and if they give me a call you guys can tag along. Think of it as a backup plan."

"Not bad." Shinjiro commented. "But now what?"

"Now we find someone else to hit on!" Junpei proclaimed, now out of his disgruntlement. He spun on his heels. "Like her!"

I turned to follow his gaze. Pretty lady in a gold bikini standin off by h- "WHOA HOLD IT."

The guys stopped to look at me as I grabbed Junpei's shoulder.

"What, why?"

"You guys know how I can sense personas and arcanas?" They nodded. "Well, I can sense arcanas from non-persona users as well. That girl over there is Emperor arcana."

"So, what's the big deal?"

My expression turned so serious that you could kill Chuck Norris with it. "Only dudes can have Emperor arcana."

Their eyes went wide, then they looked back at the girl. She apparently spotted us and waved in our direction. The three of them looked back at me. I still had my serious face on. I just became a fuckin' hero.

"Hey, cutie pies..." A voice called from behind us. "Hehehe, can I help you?"

We turned aro- OH MY GOD THAT'S NOT RIGHT.

"Uhhh, he-hello..." Junpei sputtered uneasily. I don't blame him, this lady just came up outta nowhere. Devil Arcana, and she's obviously old enough to be our mother, if not older. "We're just, uh..."

"Looking for the restroom!" Shinjiro cut in. Oh god I can almost hear the terror in his voice.

"Dude, Roy..." hissed Junpei, elbowing me. "Where did this old lady come from?"

"Hell if I know!" I hissed back.

"Hey, whare you whispering about?" She asked, taking a step closer and wrapping her arms under her boobs.

"What?" stammered Junpei, looking back at her. "Oh, uh..."

Her lips curled into a devilish grin. "You guys are in high school, aren't you?"

"Y-Yeah, that's right!" Oh god Shinjiro's starting to panic a little.

"You have a good eye!" commented Junpei as he carefully took a small step backwards.

"I can't help it. My job..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Well, that's not important. You guys wanna have some fun?"

"Oh, uhhh... That's not right, is it? I mean, our ages..."

The woman blinked. "What?"

"Sh-Shinjiro-san! Your turn!" Junpei took a step behind Shinjiro. "It was your turn anyway, and you're closer in age to her!"

"Wh-What?" He snapped before the lady focused on him. "Uh, well..."

"Oooh my, well aren't you the pick of the litter..." she mused, her grin becoming far, far more disturbing by the second. "Tall, muscular... Mmmm..." Her grin became a smile. "I choose you! Do you want to go on a vacation to the world of romance with me?"

"Uh, not re-"

"Hehe, you're gonna have to keep this a secret from everybody else!" She stepped closer to Shinjiro and tried to grab him.

"Hey, hands off!" He snapped, stepping back.

_'OUR CREWMATE IS IN DANGER, CAPTAIN! SOUND THE RETREAT!'_

"PULL BACK!" I shouted, grabbing Junpei and Akihiko by the shoulder. "RETREAT!"

I yanked and dragged them stumbling across the beach with Shinjiro hot on our heels. Once we were out of the danger zone, we let out a group sigh.

"This sucks..." complained Junpei. "We're 0 for 3..."

"Oh god, please tell me you're not counting almost getting molested by that old lady in the tally..." I said.

Akihiko sighed loudly before Junpei could answer.

"What's wrong?" Junpei asked him. "I thought you weren't interested in picking up chicks."

"If I'm in a match, I want to win." He snapped. "I know what our problem is, you can't crontrol yourself!"

"What! Don't blame this on me!"

I sighed in unison with Shinjiro as the began to bicker. I looked at him. He looked at me. I glanced in the direction of the two idiots arguing over who failed worse. Shinjiro nodded. We turned towards them, then each of us grabbed an idiot by the back of his head and smacked them together, then let them tumble to the ground once we let go.

"FINAL VERDICT." I proclaimed. "You both screwed up. End of discussion."

"I won't accept a stalemate!" Akihiko snapped as he stood up, rubbing his head. "It's etiher him or me!"

"Yeah!" agreed Junpei. "This is serious... now, tell us..." He was looking past me. "who's..."

"What's the matter?" Aki asked. "You see something?"

We all turned around to see wh- HOLY MOTHER OF PORK PRODUCTS.

There was a lone girl wearing a blue sundress standing on the end of a small dock, staring out at the ocean. A slight breeze picked up, causing her dress to flutter and her blond hair to sway slightly under what looked like a pair of headphones.

_'Hot. Damn.'_

The four of us quickly shuffled behind a bunch of rocks and peeked out at her.

"Whoa... Talk about saving the best for last...!" Junpei whistled quietly. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Man, she's cute..."

"I agree..." Commented Akihiko.

"Yeah..." whispered Shinjiro.

You know, I think I've seen her before...

"This is our last chance to make up for failures..." stated Junpei. "But this time we should try one at a time instead of all together. We'll have a better shot that way."

"Sounds like a good plan." agreed Akihiko.

"Alright, then let's decide the order!" Junpei held his hand out. "We'll go clockwise, starting with the winner! Ready...?" The rest of us put our hands near his. "Rock, paper, scissors!"

DAMN IT, I LOST.

"Yeah, I win!" Junpei cheered. Smug bastard. "Okay, I'll go first, Akihiko-san's second, then Shinjrio-san, then Roy's last!" He hopped to his feet. "I'm up! Wish me luck!"

Please god let him fail.

"H-Hey, h-how's it going?" He asked nervously once he approached her. "I noticed you're been, uh, staring at the ocean." Wow I don't think I even needed to not wish him luck. "So, um... do you come here often? My name's Ju-Ju-Junpei."

How the hell did he stammer through his own fucking name?

"Ju-Ju-Junpei?" She asked, looking back at him. I think she's just as confused he stuttered though his own name as well.

"Don't worry, I-I just want to talk." He said with a weak grin. "I mean, it's more fun than standing here all by yourself, isn't it?"

The girl looked away from him. "I am looking for a human."

Junpei glanced around. "O-Oh, yeah...?"

"You are not the one." She stated.

"Wow, he got shot down faster than I expected..." winced Akihiko.

"I'm amazed he didn't get shot down right away." Shinjiro noted.

Junpei walked back over to us, his head hung in defeat. "Sh-She's a tough one, Senpai..."

"Heh..." Akihiko smirked. "Don't worry about me."

Shinjiro sighed as Aki started towards the girl.

"Well, hello there." He greeted once he was close enough to her. "Say, do you like the ocean?"

Yeah, this is going to be another spiralling failure.

"Is your question directed at me?" She asked.

"Oh, um, yeah, I like the ocean too." He replied. "Hey, I heard that triathletes who train at the beach perform better than those who practice indoors. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"He's talking to her about sports?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I give him five more seconds before he gets shot down."

"That type of information is irrelevant to me."

"Called it." I smirked as Akihiko came back towards us with a content grin.

"Heh, I won..." He said once he got behind the rocks with us again. "I talked to her longer than you did."

"It doesnt matter how long you talked to her!" Junpei snapped. "Argh, alright Shinijro-san, you're up!"

"Tch." He stood up and walked past us. He got out to the dock, then sat down next to her, acting completely oblivious to her standing there.

"What's he doing?" asked Junpei.

"I have a hunch..." I commented.

"So..." Shinjiro began. "You come out here often?"

The girl looked at him for a moment. "Not frequently."

"I see." He replied. "Nice view, isn't it?"

"It is soothing to look at, yes." She agreed. "Is that why you are here?"

"Yeah. I just like to relax and look out at the ocean sometimes." he said. "Helps me think." He looked up at her. "Hey, you here by yourself?"

"It is not relevant that I disclose that information to you."

Shinjiro winced. "Alright." He stood up. "Hey, some friends of mine were thinkin' of heading to the beach bar over that way and gettin' some drinks. Would you like to tag along?"

"I will not be able to join you."

He shrugged. "Okay then. See you around."

Shinjiro walked back to us with a slight frown. "She's tougher then I expected."

"You did good though, man." I said, patting him on the shoulder as he crouched next to me.

"This sucks..." Junpei sighed. "We're crashing and burning..." He began to sob a little.

"Hey, stop crying!" said Akihiko, jabbing Junpei in the side. "You're making me feel bad..."

"It's up to you then, Roy." Shinjiro stated.

"If you can't pull this off, I'm gonna be traumatized for the rest of my life!" Junpei pointed at me dramaticly.

"We're on the ropes, but it's not over yet..." Akihiko gave me a serious look. "It's all up to you now."

I sighed and stood up. I took off my hat for a second and fixed my hair, then tucked my shades into my shirt pocket. "Alright then." I adjusted my shirt. "Just watch."

I casually approached the girl. I'm going to find out why she looks so god damn familiar to me.

_'She's Chariot Arcana, by the way.'_

Eh, I didn't bring any 'sonas from that with me. Guess I'll just stick to what I've got. I went old school and brought along Orpheus for the hell of it.

Once I approached, I cleared my throat a little. "Hello there."

She turned around to face me. Her eyes went wide in surprise, like she recognised me.

"You are..." Her head turned slightly away, like she was looking past me. "Initiating evasive maneuver. Confirmation must be made at a secure location."

"Hey, wa-" She darted past me and I turned around to see the other guys had come out from behind the rock. But then I noticed the way her dress was moving as she ran. She's the person from last night!

"Hey, what did yo-"

"OUT OF MY WAY!" I shouted, shoving past the guys as I sprinted after her.

* * *

I'm not letting her get away from me. I recognise her from somewhere else, and she was following me yesturday. I'm going to find out who she is.

She's fast, though, I'll give her that. I'm channeling a bunch of Sukukajas and I'm only just able to keep up with her. She topped the hill before me, and I reached the location a moment later. I spotted her legs sticking out from below a large sign next to a massive tree.

"I know you're there." I said, starting towards her.

"I was correct..." She said, stepping out from behind the sign. "I have found you."

Wait, what?

She ran over and wrapped her arms around me, keeping me from moving mine very much.

"I have been searching for you." She stated. "My highest priority is to be with you!"

I like where this is going.

"WHAT!" Oh hai Junpei and the guys. "I can't believe this!"

"What's going on?" Akihiko asked. "He didn't even say anything to her!"

"He's got skills, I'll give him that." Thank you, Shinjiro.

"There you guys are!"

I turned my head slightly to see Yukari and the girls approaching us.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"Um..." Fuuka piped up. "What're you doing in the middle of the woods in your swimsuits?"

"Well, I'M not in a swimsuit." I stated, sounding slightly offended.

"Do You have any idea what we've-" Yukari finally seemed to notice the blond girl latching onto me. "Who's this?"

"Honestly?" I raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl who was still clinging to me like a lost teddy bear she'd just found again. "Not a clue, but she kinda acts like she knows me."

"It is my highest priority to be with him!" She stated firmly.

I latched onto her, then looked over at Mitsuru. "Aww, Mitsuru, can we keep her?" I gave her a hopeful expression. _"PLEEEASE?"_

Mitsuru just twitched slightly. "We'll discuss this later. We've encountered a problem. I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation, but I need you to go back to the house and prepare for battle."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why, what happened?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." **GAH, FUCK! STOP DOING THAT NINJA BULLSHIT, SKETCHTSUKI!** "We've found what we were looking for."

Wait, huh?

"What do you mean?" Yukari asked.

Sketchtsuki ignored her and walked over to me and the girl with the improbable glomp strength and sighed. "You had me worried. You don't have permission to leave the lab on your own, Aigis."

Wait, what?

* * *

One trip back to the mansion(thankfully the girl let go of me on the way) and a change of clothes later, we were all in one of the hallways with Sketchtsuki.

_'You EVER going to stop calling him that?'_

Not likely.

"I apologize for all the trouble." said the chairman. "Everything is under control now."

"So, um..." began Fuuka. "What happened to capturing the tank?"

"We're gonna capture a tank?" I asked with a pyschotic grin. "Oh HELL YES!"

"Oh, that's been taken care of." Awww, WHAT! "Come here, Aigis."

The blond girl from the beach walked in. What in the hell is she wearing?

"This is Aigis." Sketchtsuki introcuded, motioning to the girl. "As you can see, she's a 'mechanical maiden'."

Wait, she's a robot?

"I am Aigis." She said in a slight monotone. "My mission is to destroy Shadows. I have been assigned to SEES, effective immediately."

Okay, I'm both stoked and disappointed right now. I'm stoked because YAY WE CAN KEEP HER and dissapointed because she's kinda not human.

"No way..." stammered Yukari. "It's like she's... alive..."

"This is unbelievable." No, Akihiko, a talking cat with a Persona is unbelievable. Even more so if said Persona is ludicrously evil and reffered to as 'Mr. Ticklekitties' for any length of time.

_'Didn't you once see a guy in a MMORPG with a cerberus named that?'_

I might have.

"She's so cute, but..." Junpei is also disappoint. "She's a robot..."

Doesn't mean I can't be nice to her.

"Anti-Shadow weapons were created ten years ago to combat uncontrollable Shadows." Sketchtsuki explained. "Aigis was the last one to be made... and the only one that still remains today."

"An Anti-Shadow weapon..." Mitsuru's eyes widened. "Does that mean she...?"

"Yes, I am capable of operating the Persona 'Palladion.'" Stated Aigis.

Now how the hell did I miss that?

_'I dunno, but I missed it as well.'_

"She suffered major damage in combat and has remained in the lab ever since." Continued the Chairman. "It's still unclear as to why she suddenly reactivated herself this morning..."

"Not really." I commented. "When I joined SEES, fate delt you all wild cards." I smirked. "This is just one of them."

Sketchtsuki twitched slightly. "Well, I hope you will all get along..."

"An Anti-Shadow weapon with a will of her own..." Fuuka looked over Aigis with awe. "This is amazing!"

"Um, but the way..." began Yukari. "When I saw you earlier, it seemed like you knew him..."

Aigis nodded. "Yes, it is very important for me to be by his side."

I honestly have no problem with this. I mean, she's a robot and she wants to hang around with me alot. For all intensive purposes, I now have a robotic body guard. This is totally the best vacation _ever._

"Hmm... Perhaps her identification system is malfunctioning..." mused Sketchtsuki. "Or maybe she's still half-asleep... This is quite interesting." He shook his head a little. "Well, I can ponder this later. Oh, I forgot to tell you all..." He looked back at the rest of us. "You can participate in a wide range of recreational activities here. There's a tennis court, a pool table, even a karaoke machine!" He grinned. "Would you care to hear me sing?"

"No thanks." I grinned. I just had a brilliant idea. Shade, can you head to the Velvet Room without me?

_'I see what you're thinking. Here's hoping Igor will help you get away with it.'_

I don't doubt that. "I wanna take the first swing at it."

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow. "You sing?"

I shrugged. "Just one song I want to belt out at least once tonight." I clapped my hands together. "So, where's it at, and can I hook my music player to it?"

* * *

So now I'm on a small-ish stage in this room with everyone in SEES(and Sketchtsuki) sitting around various mini-tables, minus Aigis who's sitting at the bar next to where I said I was going to be sitting when I was done.

Also, Igor agreed to help with my little scheme. Shade has a Velvet Door in my brain that he uses, so he can talk to them. Can't trade out Personas this way, but I don't care. I'm currently uploading a song to the Karaoke Machine in here. One of my favorites, actually.

"Okay, now before I begin..." I said as I grabbed the microphone. "I want you all to humor me on this, and agree to not flip out and start blowing stuff up once I start singing, no matter what happens."

That got a collective eyebrow raise of confusion.

"Just Humor me." I repeated, then I looked at Aigis. "Except you, I want you to stay there until I say otherwise. Can you do that for me, please? I promise nothing bad will happen."

"Affirmative." She replied.

"Thanks you, Aigis." I smirked. "Now then, let's get this started!"

I hit a button on the machine and the opening notes of 'Monsters' by Matchbook Romance started playing. I tapped my foot to the beat.

"Girl, what's come between you and meee~" I sang. "Look right through me~"

"I... won't let it go..." I swayed back and forth slightly. "I can't help this... feeling anymore... I will... GO anywhere..." I pulled a card out of my shirt pocket. "Maybe you'll see~" The card turned into an evoker, and everyone flinched. "Meee~!"

"Ooooooh~" I slowly raised the evoker to my head as blue mist swirled around my feet. "OoOoh~ Yeah~!"

**BANG**

_"WE ARE!"_ Glass and mist spiralled around as Shade appeared next to me, holding a microphone of his own. _"WE ARE THE SHAKEN! We are the monsters! Underneath your bed!"_

_'Yeah!'_ sang Shade, stepping away from me slightly. _'Believe what you read~!'_

_"WE ARE!"_ Now we're sorta dancing and singing in unison. _"We are mistaken! We are the voices!" _The two of us pointed at our heads. _"Insiiide your head~!"_

"Yeah!" I smirked and pointed at my eyes. "Believe what you see~!"

We got back to the 'ooooh' semi-chorus bit and everyone in the room was gawking at this. I could tell Aigis was especially freaked out, so I bet she likely has some Shadow detection stuff in her head and it's reading Shade as one.

_'It came as no surprise, you bring me back to life...' _("Believe me~") _'You bleed for me, I'll bleed for you...'_

I pointed at Shade dramaticly. "I caught you walkin' through walls! Drowned with applause! From a world that makes me crazy~!" _('Crazyyyy~!')_

Another round of the 'Oooh' bit with us singing in unison again. This is freaking epic, and it's only gonna get better from here!

_"WE ARE! We are the shaken! We are the monsters! Underneath your bed!"_

_'Yeah~! Believe what you read~!'_

_"WE ARE! We are mistaken! We are the voices~! Insiiide your head~!'_

"Yeah! Believe what you see~!"

We crossed our arms and tapped our feet to the short guitar bit. I started stepping back when another 'oooh' part came up, leaving Shade at the front of the stage, and me sitting on a bunch of stools I'd placed up there before I started, snapping my fingers in tune with the song.

_'We are the monsters...'_ Shade's takin' the lead for a bit here. _'We are the monsters... we are the monsters, Underneath your bed...'_ he popped his neck. _'We are the voices...'_

"We are the voices..." I echoed.

_'We are the voices...' _("We are the voices...") _'We are the voices,'_ ("We are the voices...") _'Underneath your bed...'_

_'We are the monsters...' _("We are the monsters...") _'We are the monsters...'_ ("We are the monsters...") _'We are the monsters... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, YEAH, YEAH!'_

Shade swung his arm out as a guitar solo broke out in the song, sending small, gain-of-sand sized orbs at the heads of all the human(therefor not Aigis) members of SEES(except Sketchtsuki). In a burst of mist, replicants of everyone appeared on stage near me on the extra stools, all of them with the same glowing yellow eyes Shade had.

Aigis was looking on in horror at the sudden mass of Shadows, while everyone else looked like they had no idea what the fuck was going on. Once the solo started to reach its creshendo, the Shadows all smirked slightly.

_'WE ARE!'_ Sang Shade in unison with the Shadows of Junpei, Fuuka, and Yukari. _'We are the shaken!'_ ("Shaken!")

_'We are the monsters!' _("Monsters!") _'Underneath your bed~! Yeah! Believe what you read~!'_

_'WE ARE!'_ Shade threw his arm out dramaticly. _'We are mistaken!'_ ("Mistaken!") _'We are the voices!'_ ("Voices!") All the Shadows pointed at their heads. _'Insiiide your head~! Yeah! Believe what you see~!'_

_'We are!'_ They were singing slightly quieter now as, from the feet up, they began evaporating into blue mist. _'We are the shaken!'_ ("Shaken!") _'We are the monsters~'_ ("Monsters!") _'Underneath your bed..._'

_"Yeeeah..." _The Shadows, plus Shade had completely disppeared by this point though their voices all ecohed that line at once, and I stepped forward with my head tilted downwards so they couldn't see my eyes behind the rim of my fedora.

"Believe what you see..." I finished, lifting my head up with my eyes closed. I opened them a moment later with a sinister smirk on my face, and there was a collective look of astonishment from everyone. I don't blame them, if everything's going the way it should, they're glowing yellow right now. Once the closing notes of the song began fading, I blinked and my eyes should have returned to normal now.

_'That was fucking awesome.'_

And their reaction to it? Priceless.

* * *

Author Note - So, who just had their mind blown by that last part? Show of hands? Mwehehehe...

And before anyone says anything, I mentioned the idea for this scene at the end to DropletOfSour and he didn't mind the similarities it bore with that one scene from his story 'To Be', so shaddup. Anywho, YAY AIGIS IS IN THE STORY NOW! It makes me happy because she's basicly my favorite character. Anywho, next chapter is going to have something awesome in it as well, but you'll have to wait and see! Here's a hint, though: The Roy & Shade Karaoke Mind Screw scene was not the original reason Roy went to the Velvet Room before the trip. That comes next chapter. Mwahahahaha!


	23. Summertime Snowball Fight

Pre-chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash -** Nah, the Devil Arcana lady should be faily obvious from the dialog and I don't care if SHE gets spoiled. The joke about the cat should make anyone who read Lusnati Style chuckle a little(lol hint). As for Roy's song, I have been wanting to write that scene ever since I decided he'd have Shade in his head. It's great. And lastly: Bacon is delicous.

**Fanfic Reader Guy - **If you need your brain fixed, I know a guy who can help you out. XD

And now, the finale of the Yakushima Arc!

* * *

As soon as I came off the stage and sat down, Aigis glomped me. Must not have liked the idea of me being that close to that many Shadows.

"Fortune." I looked over my shoulder at Mitsuru. "What just happened?"

"Shade just happened." I told her.

"Who were those people and why did they look like us?"

"Those were your Personas." I stated. "They just looked like you did."

Mitsuru's visible eye narrowed. "And how did you evoke them?"

"SHADE did that." I grunted. "I dunno how either, because he won't tell me. I can assure you that nothing like this will happen again, though."

"Very well." Mitsuru sighed, shaking her head. "But if it does end up happening again, please inform us beforehand."

"Alright." I looked at Aigis. "Um, you can let go now... I'm starting to lose feeling in my arm."

"I apologize." she said as she let go. I rubbed my arm a little.

_'Want some Dia?'_

Yes please.

* * *

"Excuse me."

I looked over at the door to my room. I'd left the Karaoke lounge shortly after Sketchtsuki decided he wanted to sing, mainly because I wanted my ear drums to not start to bleed.

"Yes?"

"May I enter?"

I thought about it for a second, then shrugged to myself. "Go right ahead."

The door opened and Aigis carefully stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Couldn't stand Sketchtsuki's singing?" I asked.

"Who is 'Sketchtsuki'?"

"Ah, sorry." I apologized. "It's what I've nicknamed Chairman Ikutsuki sense the day I met him because he looks really sketchy."

"He is not a drawing, though."

I chuckled. "It's an American expression. Saying someone is 'sketchy' means something about the person doesn't seem quite right, such as being untrustworthy."

She nodded slightly. "I comprehend."

"That's good." I looked around. "Uh, please, sit down if you'd like."

Aigis casually walked over and sat down on my bed.

"So, anyways, why did you come here?"

"It is as you first suspected." She stated. "Sketchtsuki-san's singing was atrocious."

I barely managed to suppress a laugh. "You're not going to call him that around anyone else, are you?"

She shook her head. "No. Only when speaking with you."

"Okay, good..." I sighed.

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How did you summon a group of Shadows when you were singing?"

"Ah, I should explain a few things." I began. "You no doubt noticed the first Shadow that appeared looked like me, right?"

Aigis nodded.

"That is because he is my Shadow."

"I do not comprehend." She gave me a slightly perplexed look.

"I'll explain, but only on the condition you do not repeat anything said in this conversation to anyone else unless I say so. Is that alright?" She nodded again. "Okay. As I understand, a Shadow is suppressed human emotions. If a person accepts these emotions, their Shadow becomes a Persona."

"Then the other Shadows that took the form of the other members of SEES were their Personas?"

I nodded. "Most likely. My Shadow, who I've taken to calling Shade, is different, though."

"How so?"

"Unlike the others in SEES, I'm capable of holding and using up to twelve Personas." I explained. "And yes, I've already gotten lectured about how completely impossible that should be. Shade, however, does not count against my limit. Apparently he used part of the Wild Card, the name of the ability to use multiple Personae, to seperate himself from the rest or something like that." I sighed. "I don't fully understand it, and I've kinda given up on trying to prevent myself from thinking about it till I get a headache."

"That is a wise course of action." Aigis noted. "The stess would hinder your focus."

I shrugged. "Probably." I looked away from her for a second, then thought of something. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Why do you keep saying your highest priority is to be with me?" I asked. "I don't really mind, but it's kinda confused me."

"One moment." She replied. "Searching databanks."

I'm going to have to get used to these kinds of conversations probably if she clings to me often enough.

_'You really don't seem all that bothered by this.'_

I know, huh? Maybe I've just started subconciously accepting that there is nothing even remotely sane about my life anymore.

_'That's entirely possible.'_

"Search complete." Aigis reported.

"And?"

She looked down slightly. "No data. It is possible it was been corrupted."

I sighed.

"I am sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. You've been in storage for what, Ten years?"

"Affirmative."

"And at least it's someting you know." I commented, leaning back in my chair slightly. "Better then waking up and not knowing anything." I shook my head slightly and got out of my seat. "Anyways, can you please move? I'd like to get some sleep."

Aigis nodded and stood up as I moved over and climbed into my bed.

"Feel free to stay here tonight." I yawned as I pulled the blanket over myself. "If anyone asks, tell them I said it was okay. If it's Sketchtsuki, tell him I said it's his fault his singing almost traumatized you and I don't care what he says."

"Affirmative."

* * *

I woke up on my own at around eight in the morning the next day. I got a 'Good Morning.' from Aigis, who apparently had decided to try on my fedora durring the night. She looks adorable in it.

She gave it back and then waited outside my room while I took a shower and got dressed. I opted for some swimming today, as well as enact an evil plan that is can only get more awesome now that Aigis is here. When I came out of my room with the same outfit I had on when we first went swimming, except with the shirt from Operation Babe Hunt thrown on as well, Aigis was in her sundress again and waiting for me along with Fuuka, who was in her own swimsuit.

"Hey." I greeted as I put my bucket hat on. "What's up?"

"Aigis didn't want to leave before you did." stated Fuuka.

"Headin' to the beach?" I asked. The two of them nodded. "Cool, let's get going."

* * *

"Do we have a mission at the beach today?" Aigis asked as we headed to join the others.

"Nope. Just gonna have some fun is all." I replied, pulled my shades out and putting them on. "You know what fun is, right?"

"Of course." She stated. "Recreation is the refreshement of one's mind and body."

"Good to know!" I grinned. "Because I thought of a great way to have some fun once we get to the beach."

Fuuka seemed slightly nervous. "Umm, you're not going to something like you did last night, are you?"

"What, with Shade evoking everybody's Personas in a way that makes them look like the people who weild them?" I asked. "Nah, nothin' like that. Something a little bit more... chill."

"Hey, there you are!"

We looked over at Yukari and Mitsuru, who were standing next to a beach umbrella that Shinjiro and Akihiko were sitting under. Shinji looked like he was napping.

"Hey, Roy!" called out Junpei as he ran up to us with the floaty ring thing he brough in hand. "What took ya so long?"

I shrugged. "Aigis was waiting for me." I clapped my hands together. "So, what's the plan for today? Casual beach shenanigans?"

"Pretty much!" He replied. "C'mon, let's take one last dip before we leave!"

Junpei started back towards the water, with Aigis deciding to follow him.

"Hey, Aigis, you're water-proof, right?" I called out.

"Affirmative!" She replied as she reached the surf.

"Okay, cool." I commented quietly.

"I figured she's water-proof." Yukari said with a hint of annoyance. I get the feeling she doesn't like Aigis for some reason.

Speaking of Aigis, she came back up to us. Due to getting wet, her dress was clinging to her frame.

_'That's hot. Robot or not, totally hot.'_

I know, man.

"What's wrong, Aigis?" Fuuka asked.

"It is best that we all engauge in this activity together." She stated. "An activity in which only one person derives enjoyment is not the optimal metion to 'have some fun'."

I chuckled at that.

"Ugh, do we have to...?" semi-whined Yukari before giving in and following Aigis back to the water.

"We should join them." Fuuka commented before she started after them.

Mitsuru nodded and walked behind Fuuka. "Okay."

I'll go join them in a sec, Imma go talk to the guys, and HA! No Ninja-ing for you THIS TIME, Sketchtsuki!

"Hey Mr. Chairman." I greeted as he approached us.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked. "We've been busy during our time here, but it looks as if we can relax a bit today."

"Hey, Akihiko-san, c'mon!" Junpei called out from the water. "It's your turn!"

"My turn...?" He asked in confusion. "What are they doing?"

Sketchtsuki chuckled. "I'm glad to see everyone is having so much fun." He looked at the two of us. "I've already told you what time the ship will be arriving tomorrow, yes?" Not that I know of. "I'll most likely head over to the port early, so don't be late."

"Yeah, yeah." I said dismissively. "We'll pass it along."

"Well, until then, enjoy the last day of your vacation!" He waved slightly and started walking off.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

You know, I think that particular Social Link is picky. It doesn't like to do much most of the time.

_'At least it wasn't quiet for two months this time though, right?'_

Eh, true. Not gonna worry about it, though. Just gonna let these links work themselves out.

"Roy! Hurry up!"

I turned my head in the direction of the others, then sighed. I pulled my hat, glasses, and button-up shirt off, then threw them onto the chair Akihiko had been occupying until a few seconds ago.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." I griped. "Don't fuckin' rush me..."

* * *

A little while later, after getting sick of Yukari using her bullshit garu channeling to drop mini-tidal waves on me and Junpei, I decided to set my evil plan into motion. I gathered Junpei, Aigis, and Fuuka and enlisted their help in moving a couple of big logs and digging trenches behind them.

"I do not understand." Aigis asked once we started on the second trench. "Why are we digging up the beach?"

"You'll find out." I grinned. "Just humor me, okay?"

"Very well."

* * *

Once the two bases were done, I gathered all of the beach-fairing SEES members in the small area between the two sand forts.

"Roy, what are you up to this time?" Akihiko asked as I grinned at everyone.

"Simple!" I declaired, putting my sunglasses back on. "We're going to have a snowball fight!"

There was a collective eyebrow raise of confusion. Except Aigis, who did an adorable head tilt of confusion instead.

"Well, we've got two people who can channel Bufu skills, so why can't we make snowballs and have some fun?" I asked. "C'mon, it's a Snowball Fight in summer at the BEACH. How can you pass that up?"

"You can't, that's how." Junpei stated with a grin. He looked at Mitsuru. "Whaddya say, Senpai?"

She was certainly hesitant about the idea, probably because everyone except me and Aigis are in swimsuits, but she smirked and nodded.

"It is certainly a unique oppertunity." She said with a smirk. "Very well."

"YES!" cheered Junpei, who turned to me. "So how's this gonna work?"

"Also simple!" I stated, creating a snowball in my hand. I stocked up on basicly every Persona I had that could use Bufu skills before we left. Except Orpheus, I brought him along just for the hell of it. Gonna cost a bunch to get my old team back, but it's gonna be worth it. "Me 'n Mitsuru are going to take three other people each and supply our teams with Snowballs. After that, just cut loose till ya feel like stoping!"

"So who's with who?" Shinjiro asked. I think he likes this idea.

"Well, reguardless, Aigis is with me." I stated. "Other then that, I pick Fuuka and Junpei." I tossed the snowball in my hand up into the air slightly then caught it. "So, let's get this started!"

* * *

After giving Mitsuru a quick crash-course on how to use Bufu skills to make snowballs, both the teams split up and we took cover behind our respective sand-log walls.

"You guys ready?" I asked, having finished making a frozen bowl out of wet sand to store our supply of snowballs in.

I got nods from the three of them, then grinned and slowly peaked my head over the top of the log. I saw Yukari and Akihiko peering over theirs for a second, then they ducked back down. I grabbed a couple snowballs, then stood up.

"ATTACK!" I shouted, hurling the frozen spheres in my hand in the general direction of the other sand-log fort. I heard a surprised squeal, meaning I likely hit Yukari. The rest of my team joined in the assult just as Mitsuru's group started counter attacking.

Eventually I was forced to start restocking my team as snowballs rained down on us. Junpei and Aigis got hit a few times, but so far me and Fuuka had avoided any serious hits. Once I had our supply restocked, I stood up to throw one and got beaned in the face.

Hard.

I fell back onto the sand and the others crowded around me.

"Oh god..." I groaned. "What the shit..."

"Are you alright?" Fuuka asked. I nodded and sat up, shaking my head. What the fuck was that? I carefully poked my head up, and almost got sniped by another snowball.

I looked and Yukari had a snowball hovering in her hand and was grinning.

Oh, HELL NO.

"Aigis." I said sharply. "Come here, please."

She moved closer to me. "What is it?"

"Carry me on you back."

She did her head tilt.

"Yukari's channeling Garu skills to launch snowballs at us faster, so we're going to up the ante." I replied.

"Affirmative." Aigis turned around and I carefully climbed onto her back. She grabbed my legs as I pointed my arms straight out over her shoulders, then froze them in place so they looked like cannons on her shoulders.

"Junpei, in my pocket there's a card with a bottle of Soma in it." I said. "Can you get it for me? I'm almost out of power."

"Gotcha." He pulled it out, then held the bottle while I drank from it. "You good to go, now?"

I nodded. "Aigis, I can't see past your head, so you're going to have to aim, alright?"

"Affirmative." She replied.

"Okay, Let's rock!" I grinned. "LET 'EM HAVE IT!"

With that, Aigis sprang to her feet and I started launching snowballs as fast as I could. Mitsuru's team didn't stand a chance.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Yukari complained under the onslaught of frozen fury.

"NEITHER IS GARU-LAUNCHING SNOWBALLS INTO MY FACE, YUKARI!" I countered. "Aigis, Yukari now a priority target!"

"Understood!"

* * *

So once I finally ran out of steam and got Aigis to take me back to the mansion before Yukari threw any tidal waves at us, I relaxed in my room sketching for the hell of it once I got my arms thawed out. Aigis was hiding out with me, and would occassionally ask questions about what I was drawing and why. Fortunetly, I wasn't quite done with my SEES Pirate crew drawing, so I added Aigis into it rather easily.

The remainder of the day was dull, so I ended going to be early while Aigis, once again, stayed in my room. Doesn't really bother me that much. Maybe it's the fact she seems really familiar to me... Eh, whatever.

Next morning got off without anything too bad happening, apart from Yukari being moderately grumpy because of the whole Roy-Aigis Snowball Machine Gun thing yesturday. The boat ride back was uneventful, minus going over the details of Inventory Cards with Aigis. She thought the entire concept behind them was really strange, but she didn't deny they were very useful.

Now we're all piling out of the limo that brought us back to the dorm, and I feel awesome. Surprised we got back as late as we did, though.

"Man, I'm beat..." Junpei declared as he trudged through the front door with his suitcase. "It seemed to take forever to get back..."

So I'm not the only one who thought that was rediculous.

"Yeah, it was a tiring trip." Fuuka agreed as she followed him into the dorm with me and Aigis right behind her. "Please rest up so you're ready for the next operation."

"It's in like what, two weeks, right?" I asked, then looked at the robot girl standing next to me. "Aigis, you know what day the next full moon is?"

"August 6th." She reported.

"Okay, yeah, two weeks then." I shrugged. "We'll be fine, right Junpei?"

"Yeah, totally." he agreed. "I don't have any plans for summer break, so I can fight Shadows all you want."

Yukari gave him a look. "Wow, you must really be bored."

"Sh-Shut up, Yuka-tan..."

"Whatever..." Yukari said dismisively. "We just have to defeat those last six, and it'll be all over. The Lost will get better, and everything will be back to normal, right?"

"Or at least lest crazy." I stated. "Because normal does not exist. It's just a setting on the washing machine."

Yukari looked at me with a raised eyebrow, then sighed and shook her head. "Whatever. We just have to try our hardest."

"Can't argue with that."

* * *

"Good morning! Please wake up."

I rolled over in my bed the next morning to see Aigis standing in my room. I'm only moderately surprised, I didn't expect her to stay in the command room by herself all night like Sketchtsuki told her to. Even watching me sleep would have been less boring. I sat up in bed and yanwed slightly.

"Mission accomplished."

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Did I sleep past my alarm clock?"

"It has not triggered yet." She informed me. "The paper on the wall says 'do things five minutes early', therefore I woke you up five minutes in advance."

"Oh, well, thanks then." I said, turning off my alarm before it started blasting some random song. Then there was a knock at my door.

"Hey, are you awake?" God damn it, why Yukari? "That girl disappeared, and we can't find her anywhere. Think you can help us out?"

"She's in here you dunce." I responded in a tone that suggested I'm grumpy when I first wake up, even though I'm not. "Didn't you bother to check the damn security cameras or what the fuck ever?"

"Huh...?"

"Aigis, please get the door."

She nodded, then strode over to the door. And I just noticed she yoinked my fedora again.

"Aigis?" Yukari asked in surprised when the door opened. "How did you-"

"He was asleep, so I unlocked the door."

She could have just yoinked the master key Mitsuru keeps downstairs, but she probably thought it was faster to do that.

"That's unlawful entry!" snapped Yukari. "Didn't we tell you to stay in the command room at night?"

"You really think she'd just stand up there with nothing to do for hours on end?" I asked with an angry tone. Robot or not, she has her own will and treating her like some THING does not sit well with me.

"I propose to be on standby in this room from now on." Aigis stated before Yukari could answer me. "Is this acceptable?"

"WHAT? N-No, it's not acceptable!" WHY DO YOU CARE?

"If there is a problem, then I will address it promptly."

Yukari glared at Aigis a little. "Uh, the problem is it's against dorm regulations..." She shook her head, then looked at me. "Well, don't just sit there! Tell her!"

I raised an eyebrow, then stood up and plucked my hat off of Aigis' head and put it on mine before giving Yukari a very serious expression. "To hell with regulations, I don't think they were written with Anti-Shadow weapons in mind." I turned to look at Aigis with a small smile. "I have no problem with you staying in here."

"H-Hey, don't say that!" Why are you getting flustered? "You know she can't stay in here with you!"

_'What the fuck is her deal? I mean seriously...'_

"Tch... alright, fine, I'll ask if Mitsuru-senpai can have a room prepaired for her on the third floor." Yukari grumbled, looking at Aigis. "You can stay there. Oh, and don't leave the dorm by yourself, okay?"

Aigis nodded slightly. I think her eye just twitched in annoyance. "I will do as commanded."

Yukari gave a tired sigh. "I'm tired..." No shit. "I have practice this morning, so I gotta go..."

Yay she's leaving my room!

"Everyone goes to a place called school in the morning." Aigis commented, then nodded. "I comprehend."

"Well, we'll only be going today and tomorrow before we have a long break." I said to her, tossing my hat onto my desk. "And, if you'd like, you can stay in here while I'm out today." I moved over to my closet and tossed my uniform onto my bed once I pulled it out. "I don't mind, and if anyone asks, I gave you permission."

"Thank you." she replied. "You are far kinder to me then Yukari-san has been."

I chuckled. "I'm just a nice person." I coughed slightly. "But, uh, can you please leave the room? I kind of need to take a shower, then get dressed."

"Very well." Aigis bowed slightly, then left the room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Walked to school with Junpei after sayin' bye to Aigis. He was quiet most of the way, then finally sighed loudly once we got off the train.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I was thinkin..." he began. "After we defeat all the Shadows and the Dark Hour disappears, what's gonna happen then?"

"Well, for one people will be throwing 'No More Apathy Syndrome' parties for like, two weeks dispite the fact basicly nobody outside of SEES or parts of the Kirijo Group even know about the Dark hour."

Junpei frowned. "But that means nobody will ever know about anything we've done..."

I shrugged. "We'll know."

"That's true..." He admitted. "But it still kinda sucks, don't ya think?"

"A little, I suppose." I replied. "But I don't see any reason to dwell on it. Do you?"

Junpei chuckled a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

Exam results were posted at lunch. I got a 97% average, top of the class. English was a bit of a gimme, though. Because, ya know, bilingual. Junpei did awesome as well. He was just BARELY beaten out for 10th highest score. Guess my abridged notes helped him out a lot.

I bumped into Mitsuru on my way back to class. Well, more like she stopped me in the hallway.

"I saw your exam scores, Fortune." She said. "I'm impressed."

I laughed a little. "I didn't even study, really. I just have good memory."

"It's still impressive work." she insisted.

"Well, thanks." I saluted a little. "But if you'll excuse me, Senpai, I'm gonna head back to class."

"Very well. I'll see you at the dorm, Fortune." Mitsuru said before turning and heading off.

"Hey, Roy-kun!"

The hell? I turned around. Oh hey, it's Suzume. Sorta quiet-ish girl who sits next to Hamuko. "What's up, Suzume?"

"I heard you went to Yakushima with Mitsuru-senpai." She semi-glared at me. "And you went to the beach together! Did you see her in a swimsuit?"

"A bikini, actually." I admitted. "More then once. Hell, she even got a few suits to bring us some crushed ice when I joked about having a snowball fight on the beach."

Her eyes brightened. "Did you get any pictures?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, no. I think Junpei might have, but I don't think he has his digital camera with him today. Ask him to bring some prints tomorrow or something."

She nodded quickly, then scurried off. I'm only moderately surprised Mitsuru has a fangirl.

* * *

I tried to head off by myself after school, but Yukari kidnapped me and forcably dragged me up to the roof with her. She stood near the edge of the roof, silently looking out at the city.

"Hey, um..." She tried to begin, but stopped and shook her head. "Oh, nevermind."

"Don't waste my time." I grunted, turning to walk away.

"Hey, you don't have to be mean!" She griped, turning around. Her expression quickly turned soft, though. "Y-You might have forgotten about it already, but... At Yakushima, I said some stupid things... I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Wow, she's owning up to her stupidity?

_'Oh shit, I think the world is ending.'_

Nah, we're good. She's admitting she's dumb, not that she's a bitch.

"It's been bothering me for a while. It's hard not having a regular family, ya know?"

I shrugged, and walked over next to her, looking out at the city. "Kinda. Uncle Shane was basicly the only person I had growing up, especially once Cody passed away..." I sighed sadly. "But even though he was nice to me, I still missed mom and dad."

"Yeah..." Yukari sighed as well. "Everyone else has a mom and a dad... Why do we have to be so different? Why us...?" She shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to lump the two of us together... But..." she looked at me. "I feel like you understand, and have been looking out for me, Roy-kun. At least, that's what I thought..."

To the extent of tolerating your bullshit and making sure you don't end up as Shadow food? Yeah, guess I kinda look out for you.

She chuckled slightly. "Is that just wishful thinking?"

"I dunno." I admitted. "Depends on your point of view."

She smiled a little. "That's how I really feel, though."

**CRASH**

Wait, WHAT?

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

NOOOO! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!

I heard Yukari shudder slightly. "It's getting cold... Let's head back to the dorm..."

* * *

I kept quiet the whole way back to the dorm, ignoring Yukari's pestering. I think she kind of forgot I bitchslapped her at Yakushima. Or maybe I actually slapped some of the stupid out of her brain.

_'I'm gonna say that second one because it makes me feel better.'_

I am as well.

"Hi, how was your day?" Greeted Fuuka as we entered the dorm. "So, how did you do on your exams, Roy-kun?"

"Top of the class." I grinned.

"That's great!" She smiled. "I'm happy for you. Did you see Mitsuru-senpai's score?"

I nodded. "Almost perfect. Frickin' amazing, if you ask me."

Fuuka nodded in agreement as I plopped down on the sofa next to everyone's favorite demon slaying robot.

"In two weeks, the moon will be full again." Aigis noted after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, and those freaks with Apathy Syndrome will be everywhere..." Junpei winced. "Wait, sorry, I mean 'The Lost'. I prolly shouldn't complain about 'em, since it's not their fault, it's those damn Shadows..."

"It is possible to end this." Aigis stated. "Six Shadows remain. If we can eliminate them, the Dark Hour will vanish."

Junpei nodded. "Yeah, that's ture..." He looked up at her. "So, what you're trying to say, Aigis, is that fighting is more important than studying, right?" He grinned. "I agree 100%!"

"That was not my intention." She explained.

I shrugged and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, that's just how Junpei is."

Aigis looked at me, then back at Junpei, then at me again. "Junpei-kun is strange."

I laughed. "Yeah, but that's why he's awesome." I stretched my arms over my head. "So hey, who wants to hit Tartarus tonight?"

* * *

The answer to that question was everyone. Once we got there, I had Aigis, Akihiko, and Mitsuru go up with me after I got my Persona team back to pre-Yakushima form. Apparently the new block I had my last chat with the Reaper in is called Yabbasha. Also, Fuuka learned how to play music for us so now the Tartarus romps have an epic soundtrack to go with them. I rather like Mass Destruction. Very catchy.

Anyways, I'm actually hanging back mostly this time to see how everyone else does. Akihiko has started channeling the 'kunda' debuff spells through his hands, so now he can punch stuff in the face and cause it to become easier to murder. It's utterly hilarious. Mitsuru, on the other hand, has been fine-tuning her skills with bufu into shooting icey doom spikes at everything. And she's getting better at healing, though Yukari is(sadly) still the best healer we've got.

Aigis is a godsend against Shadows. She can take hits better then Junpei can, and she uses guns built into her arms to fight. Her Persona, Palladion, is also freaking metal, because its head opens into a giant doomspike when it attacks, which it does by RAMMING SHIT. It's mainly a Physical attacker, but apparently it can learn support skills like Sukukaja and Rakukaja, making her and Akihiko a very deadly combonation. He weakens them, she strengthens us, we rip Shadows appart.

When we got up to the first Guardian floor and really got to put Aigis through her paces.

You know those Hulk Hogan Shadows that hang out in Arqa? Well, we just met their three older brothers, and god DAMN, they are a pain to deal with.

"Fuuka!" I shouted as I dove between the legs of one to avoid its Gigantic Fist. "Have you found their weakness?"

_{Just a moment... Garu! They're weak to Garu skills!}_

"Thankies!" Persona change, and... "POWER!" **BANG**

Several blasts of cutting wind tore away at the Shadows, sending them slamming down to the ground.

"Let us commence with an All-Out Attack!"

"Nah, hold off on that, I've got an idea!" I called out, blasting Power out of my head again for another Magaru. We once discovered that, if hit with a weakness or critical attack while already knocked down, a Shadow will be extremely weakened and unable to stand for a little while. And considering these bastards aren't even taking that much damage from what we're throwing at them(even my Garu spam isn't doing much, and it's their god damn weakness), this is very, very useful.

"Okay, hammer away!" I shouted.

"Understood!" Aigis called out before her Persona appeared and unleashed a powerful multi-target physical skill on the group of Gigas. Akihiko started punching the hell out of one with his -kunda punches while Mitsuru was busy turning another into a decoration for a giant icey doomspike. As for me, I busted out Shade's Claws and started ripping into the only one left.

They didn't last very long after that. However, I was worn from the fight and suggested we head back. It's not like there's any real rush anyways.

* * *

On the way back to the dorm, I started thinking about what our three heaviest hitters can do because, honestly, I'm kinda spoiled for choise with who goes up with me in Tartarus now.

Junpei is good for three things; Kill it with Fire, Beating shit with a big fucking sword, using his brain demon to evicerate other demons, and every so often making the team more resistant to all kinds of damage. Okay, so that's four things, but technically it's still three because it boils down to Fire, Swords, and Rakukaja.

Aigis is different. She's there to shoot Shadows in the face, have Palladion ram them, or throw around -kaja support as needed. She also apparently has a super mode thing that's basicly a gamble of doom, either for Shadows or for her, but she'll only use that when she's ordered to so I don't have to worry about that too much.

Finally, we have Shinjiro. Shinjiro is there for one thing and one thing only: Killing the shit out of anything and everything forever that gets in his way that doesn't nullify, repel, or absorb physical attacks, no exceptions.

To put those descriptions in simpler terms, Junpei is a light tank, Aigis is a robotic mech suit with machine guns on each arm, and Shinjiro is fucking Mecha Godzilla. Basicly it boils down to how badly I want to see shit get wrecked. If I'm feeling especially evil, I'll bring all three of them with me.

* * *

Ended up catching up with Junpei at the school gates the next morning.

"Dude, summer break starts tomorrow!" He grinned. "It's time to meet some cuties at the beach!" His expression suddenly turned thoughtful. "Ya know, if you think about it, we're pretty lucky to be living at the dorm... Mitsuru-senpai, Yuka-tan, and Fuuka... They're all hotties, don't ya think?"

"Can't argue with that." I agreed.

"Yeah, but it'd be tough to be more than just friends with any of 'em..." He noted. "Senpai is the smartest girl in school AND the President of Student Council..."

"So she'd probably only date someone who's as smart as she is."

"Yuka-tan is pretty damn popular, so she could prolly get any guy she wants..."

"So you'd have to be the most charismatic son of a bitch ever to even get her attention."

He nodded. "And that just leaves Fuuka, but she's super shy. You're have to be really careful."

"Or really, really brave." I pointed out.

Junpei rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I see what you mean. And Hey, don't tell any of them I was talking about this, alright?"

I laughed a little. "Not a problem."

* * *

"Hey, Roy, you got a minute?" I looked up from my desk to see Coach Yamato looking at me.

"Sure thing, what cha' need, bossman?"

"Since you're a transfer student, you probably don't know about the upcoming competition, right?" He asked. "Well, on August 2nd, there's a tournament against another school. I want you to compete, so start training!"

I grinned. "I take it you had something in mind?"

"Damn straight." He replied with a grin of his own. "Just make sure you come to school from July 27th to the 31st. We have to take the train to another town, and we'll be staying overnight from August 1st to the 3rd. And I'm gonna make you work like you've never worked before, so be ready!"

I chuckled. "Oh, don't worry coach. I'll bring my best game with me."

"That's the spirit!" Yamato grinned sinisterly. "See you for training!"

* * *

I started out of class a little bit later and found Hidetoshi arguing with a teacher.

"Don't be so stubborn!" Growled the teacher. "Just put his name on the list!"

"Roy-kun was chosed by the President to be in Student Council." Hidetoshi said firmly. "He's very responsible, that's why I don't consider him a suspect."

"There are witnesses who saw him wandering the streets at midnight!" snapped the teacher. Think his name's... oh, what is it... Hayashimi! That's it. "I thought you hated students who don't follow the rules!"

"I don't doubt there are witnesses, but... I believe in Roy-kun." He glared at the two teachers. "So, I'm not adding him to the list of suspects."

"I thought you were smarter than that, Hidetoshi..." snarled Hayashimi, shaking his head. "Forget about our deal."

"If you'll excuse me then." Hide almost growled, before turning and walking in my direction. He was surprised to see me. "...You were listening?"

"It wasn't me, Hidetoshi." I told him.

He grinned. "I know, you don't have to tell me." He sighed. "That teacher thinks it was you. Did he really pass his certification exam?"

I shrugged. "Maybe they got his scores mixxed up with someone else."

Hide chuckled slightly. "Could be. But don't worry, Roy-kun." He gave me a serious look. "Even if the whole school turns on me, I won't sell you out."

"Spoken like a man of his word." I replied.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana._

"'I won't sell you out.'" He repeated, smiling to himself. "Not bad, huh?"

"Not bad at all." I told him, giving him a high five.

"Please pardon the interruption." Came an announcement over the school intercom. "Saori Hasegawa of class 2-C, Hamuko Arisato of class 2-F, Please report to the faculty office at once. I repeat..."

My eye twitched. Very, very noticably.

"You okay?" Hidetoshi asked.

I shooked my head slowly. "No. I have something to take care of. Excuse me."

* * *

I got to the faculty office quickly, just in time to hear Mr. Ekoda shout "What is the meaning of this!" before something got slammed down onto a desk. I carefully slid open the door a crack to see what was going on.

Hamuko and a girl with grey-brown hair, likely Saori, were alone with Ekoda in the office.

"Huh...?" Saori was looking at something on the desk.

"This is your picture, isn't it?" snarled Ekoda. I noticed Hamuko flinch slightly when she looked at, presumably, the picture in question.

"I'm not even going to go into the filth in this article." He continued. "Some brainless journalist must have talked to you."

Hamuko picked up a magazine and started scanning it quickly.

"I... never..."

"Another student from this school brought this to my attention." Snapped Ekoda before Saori could say anything. "They said 'My school's reputation is ruined'! She also made a report on you:" WHAT? "'Hasegawa-san makes sexual advances towards male classmates, uses vulgar language behind our backs, and she never interacts with us because she thinks she's superior to the rest of the students.'"

Saori looked down slightly and bit her lip. I can tell Hamuko's having a hard time restraining herself from blurting something out.

"In other words..." He began again. "Your reputation is terrible. I'm not surprised you'd stoop to doing something like this." I can't see his face, but I'd wager he does not look happy. "I don't know about your 'nightly activites', but you can't go around causing your school trouble like this. This affects not only you, but your guardians and the people around you as well." He straightened his posture. "Anyway, it's been decided. Dispite the vacation, you're going to be suspended." WHAT. "Do you understand?"

"I..."

"You've got this all wrong!" Hamuko shouted, unable to keep quiet anymore. "Saori-san wouldn't do anything like this!"

"Zip it, Arisato." snapped Ekoda. "The important thing here is how this article reached the general public. You think you can change that?" He tilted his head back slightly. "Hm?" Hamuko shrank slightly, an angry frown on her face. "We have to make an example for the other students and their parents." Ekoda dropped his fist into his opposite hand. "There must be punishment."

"But...!"

"But nothing!" He shouted. "If you keep this up, I'll have you suspended as well!"

"OH THAT IS IT!" I roared, throwing open the door to the faculty office. "Ekoda, you're coming with ME!"

"What the-" I grabbed Ekoda by the shoulder and started dragging him out of the office. "Unhand me!"

"Urusai." I snapped, stalking my way out of the school with him stumbling after me. I drew quite the crowd as I shoved him forward once we got down the front steps.

He spun around once he regained his balance and glared at me. "What do you thi-"

My fist connected with his jaw before he could finish talking, sending him staggering backwards.

"What I'M doing..." I began, cracking my knuckles after I tossed my school bag onto the ground. "Is making sure there is punishment, Ekoda."

"How dare you!" He bellowed, rubbing his swollen cheek. "I'll ha-"

I punched him again, then drove my knee into his stomach before headbutting him to the ground.

"You'll have your uppity ass in a god damn CAST if you don't SHUT UP." I barked.

"YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME!" He screamed, clutching his chest. "I AM A TEACHER!"

"NO." I grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to his feet. "YOU are some stuck-up prick who's long overdue for one HELL of an asskicking!" I drove my knee into his stomach again, then shoved him back. "And I'M gonna give it to ya!"

"Why, you...!" Ekoda lunged at me, but I sidestepped his punch and backhanded him with my right fist before kicking him in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground.

I took a few steps back before he charged at me again, this time I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my shoulder, thowing him a good distance and sending him skidding along the ground. I sprinted towards him as he stood up, getting to him just he got to his feet. I lept up, grabbing one of his shoulders and swung in the air so both my hands were on his shoulders with my legs straight in the air before violently swinging down and driving both feet into his back, sending him crashing face-first into the ground and me landing hard on my back.

I stood up quickly, then slowly walked around to Ekoda's head.

"Let that be a lesson to you, Ekoda." I spat. "That lesson being I do not care WHO you are or what you can do, I will PUNISH you if you threaten any friend of mine." I glared at him. "Unfortunetly for you, Hamuko Arisato happens to be one such friend." I spun on my heels. "Good luck with your physical therapy, jackass."

There was a chorus of cheers from the onlookers, even Coach Yamato and Mr. Edogawa, as I walked back over to get my school bag.

_'You should have done more.'_

Yeah, but then I might have killed him. I'm still amazed I pulled off that shoulder kick thing.

_'I helped.'_

Ah. Thanks for that. Now let's just hope Mitsuru doesn't get mad when she finds out.

"Fortune, we need to talk."

Speak of the devil...

* * *

"I'm very disappointed, Fortune." Mitsuru said to me as we walked back to the dorm once the paramedics hauled Ekoda off to the hospital in an ambulence.

I grunted. "Yeah, well, bastard had it coming."

"No, I mean that you didn't break his jaw so he can't complain about his predicament."

I stopped and looked at Mitsuru in wided eyed astonishement. She stopped as well and looked back at me.

"What?" She raised her visible eyebrow.

"Nothing..." I said quickly, shaking my head. "I just thought you'd be angry with me for beating up a teacher on school grounds."

"Mr. Ekoda has been trying the limits of my patience ever since the incident surrounding Yamagishi's disappearance." Mitsuru stated as we resumed walking. "Though extreme, I am glad you did what you did."

I chuckled slightly. "So, exactly how long do you think I'll be suspended once school starts up agian?"

"Not very long, if at all."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "For putting Ekoda in the hospital?"

Mitsuru smirked evily. "As far as anyone will know, he tripped and fell down some stairs."

Wow, Mitsuru. You are my favorite person ever right now.

* * *

Author Notes - And that's the end of that chapter! The Summertime Snowball fight was Roy's original evil plan he prepaired for pre-Yakushima, and now it has come to pass! And hey, Hamuko still has her Hermit link dispite it not actually being a social link! Just proof positive that there's stuff going on outside of the main story. Also, fun fact, this is now the longest chapter of this story, coming in at 7255 words WITHOUT Review Answers and Author notes, beating out Chapter 7. I'm proud of myself. =D

Up next is Tennis Training and Koromaru, then Roy goes to Inaba! This is gonna be goooood.


	24. Robot at the Mall

I got back to the dorm with Mitsuru and that kid we met before we left for Yakushima was sitting in the lounge.

"Hello!" He greeted with a nervous smile. "My name is Ken Amada. I'll be staying here for a while. I'll try to stay out of everyone's way, so don't mind me."

"Ah, take it easy..." I waved my hand dismissively. "Make yourself at home!"

I headed up towards my room as Yukari and Fuuka chatted with Ken. Shinji and Aki were at the bar snacking when I passed them. I found Aigis waiting at the second floor lounge for me.

"Good evening, Roy-san." She greeted. "The data reguarding the newest resident, Ken-A-ma-da-san, has been recorded. I am able to communicate with him at any time. Please permit me to do so."

"Go right ahead, just don't talk about anything SEES related." I said. "And don't let him know you're a robot, okay?"

"Understood."

I sat down across from her. "So, did they get your room set up yet?"

"Affirmative." Aigis responded. "It is directly above your own."

"Ah, cool." I bobbed my head a little. "Had any luck figuring out your order to protect me?"

She sadly shook her head. "Unfortunetly, no."

"Ah well." I chuckled. "Heh, maybe it's because I'm just so charming or something."

Aigis tilted her head.

I sighed. "Sorry, I was trying to be funny, but that was just horrible..." I shook my head, then stood up "Well, I'm going to head to bed. G'night, Aigis."

"Good Night, Roy-san." She replied as I started down towards my room. I stopped just past the vending machines and turned around.

"Oh, and uh, can you wake me up tomorrow morning at roughly the same time you did today, please?" I asked. Aigis nodded. "Okay, thankies."

* * *

"Good morning! Please wake up."

"Hi Aigis..." I commented sleepily as I sat up in bed the next morning. I rubbed my eyes a little, then stood up. "Thanks."

"Why did you request I wake you at this time?" She inquired with that head tilt of hers.

"Simple." I replied. "The two of us are going to Paulowania Mall to get you some clothes."

"I do not comprehend."

"Well, see Aigis, now that Ken's living here and we don't want him to know you're not exactly human in case he doesn't actually join SEES, he might start getting suspicious if he never meets you." I explained. "So, we're going to get you some clothes so we can at least attempt to fool him into thinking you're human. That make sense?"

Aigis nodded. "I comprehend."

"Groovy." I smirked, then moved over to my closet. "But for now, I'll let you borrow some of my stuff."

I rummaged through my extra clothes, then pulled out a pair of jeans and tossed them onto the bed along with a dark grey long sleeved shirt.

"Go ahead and put those on." I said over my shoulder as I checked to see if I could find a spare pair of shoes I may or may not have had sent over with the majority of my clothing. Or I could just let her borrow my boots, seeing as I stopped wearing them once it started getting hotter and opted for a pair of similar colored tennis shoes.

"These pants are somewhat long."

I looked back at Aigis and yeah, those jeans almost reach the floor. You can barely see her peg feet. Then again, those pants are ment to fit ME, and I'm a damn giant.

_'I'm tempted to make a joke about you basicly being like a shaved bear, but you're not nearly scruffy enough for that. Or violent enough.'_

Shaddup.

I snatched my boots out of the closet, then closed it. I kneeled down infront of her, then rolled up the pantlegs slightly and looked up at her.

"Better?"

She nodded. "They are still slightly loose, however."

I held up a belt. "That's what this is for." She took it from me and quickly looped it through the jeans before adjusting it to her tastes. Once that was done, she quickly pulled on the shirt. It fit reasonally well.

"Okay, now for shoes." I motioned to the boots. "Gotta cover your feet as well, just in case."

"I comprehend." Aigis replied, carefully slipping her foot pegs into my slightly massive boots. Thankfully they managed to snugly fit onto her legs once I adjusted the laces.

"Alright!" I took a step back and looked her over. Apart from what looked like a rather odd pair of headphones and her hands, Aigis looked like a mostly normal-ish human being. "Now it's time for me to get ready."

* * *

Aigis waited in the hall outside my room until I was ready, then we headed downstairs together. Mitsuru and Fuuka were in the lounge with Ken. Hoo boy. Time to be a fantastic liar.

"Hey guys." I greeted casually.

"Oh, hello, Roy-san." Ken said, turning around to look at me. His expression changed when he saw Aigis. "Um..."

"Oh right..." I lightly slapped my hand over my forehead and shook my head a little. "You haven't met her yet." I straightened up. "This is Aigis Tokutate."

On cue, Aigis bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Where you planning on going somewhere?" Mitsuru asked, looking over Aigis' attire carefully.

I nodded. "Yeah, I was going to head to the mall with her. Would any of you like to join us?"

"No thank you." replied Ken.

"I would, actually..." Fuuka stated, standing up.

I looked at Mitsuru. "What about you, senpai?"

Mitsuru lightly shook her head. "I intend to stay in today."

"Alright then." I shrugged, then looked at Aigis and Fuuka. "Well then, let's get going."

* * *

I explained the situation with Aigis to Fuuka on the way to the mall. She likewise agreed Ken would get suspicious of Aigis mostly avoiding him and saw sense in getting her some clothes. It was actually an extra blessing that Fuuka came along, seeing as she can take Aigis' measurements so we know what size stuff she needs.

Once we actually got there, Fuuka did infact go straight to the fitting rooms with Aigis, leaving me to scout around for stuff I might like to have. Besides, I'm technically paying for this anyways. And because of the piles of loot and junk to sell we keep finding(that I sell to Kurosawa, obviously), I'm basicly financially secure for a good long time as long as I don't start going crazy with the Compendium in the Velvet Room. It can get rather expencive.

"Roy-kun!" I looked over my shoulder from the shelf with a bunch of hats on it to see Aigis and Fuuka walking over.

"Hey." I greeted. "So what size stuff do we need to look for?"

Fuuka handed me a small torn slip of paper with a few numbers on it. I barely have any idea what these mean, but oh well! Aigis can probably help with that.

"Okay then." I said, turning to face them. "Let's start lookin' for stuff."

* * *

We started off simple, a few pairs of jeans and track pants, then looked for some shirts and at least one pair of shoes. Most of the stuff she got matched the color scheme of her frame; various shades of white or cream, gold, and light grey. Also a few things the same color as that sundress she had at Yakushima. Aigis was surprised I was willing to pay for everything, but I told her not to worry about it.

As it stands, we're waiting for Fuuka to finish some shopping she wanted to do in another store near the fountain in the middle.

"I apologize for taking so long." Speaking of Fuuka, there she is now. "I had to go to the pharmacy to buy some special spices..." She sighed. "I don't know why, though. Even if I use them, I doubt they'll make any difference..." Fuuka looked down at her feet. "Sorry to make you wait..."

"Don't worry about it." I smirked. "No big deal."

Fuuka smiled as the three of us started out of the mall and back to the dorm.

"To be honest, my cooking still doesn't taste very good..." She commented sadly. "It's not the way I make it, it's just..." She bit her lip a little. "When I'm cooking, I think to myself 'this isn't going to taste good...'" She sighed. "I just wish I was good at something."

"You are very adept at providing support with your Persona." Aigis noted.

"Very true." I agreed. "But I'm sure there's something unrelated to the Dark Hour that she's good at." I looked at Fuuka. "Right?"

"Um..." She tapped her chin a few times, then shook her head. "I can't think of anything. I just don't have any talents..." Her expression brightened just a tiny bit. "Well, that's not true. I guess I'm pretty good with mechanical devices..." She sighed. "Not that that's anything to be proud of..."

"You're good with technology?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

Fuuka nodded a little. "My dad used to tinker with audio equipment in his spare time. He would repair things like headphones and speakers." She smiled nostalgicly. "I used to love watching him work when I was little. That's probably why I'm so good with mechanical devices." She sighed again. "But, I don't think those skills are enough to repay everyone for what they've done for me..."

"You won't know that for sure unless you try." I told her.

"But, even if they were, the Kirijo Group could always provide us with anything we need for battle..." She sighed yet again. C'mon, have even a LITTLE confidence! "Not to mention I'm kind of embarrassed about it all." Her face reddened slightly. "I mean, it's not a very feminine hobby..."

"So?" I raised my eyebrow again. "If it's something you enjoy working with, why let what other people think stop you? Just because it doesn't seem feminine shouldn't be an issue."

Fuuka looked at me with wide-eyed appreciation. "Oh, Roy-kun... Thank you..." She smiled. "You always seem to be the one I tell my troubles to, Roy-kun... And yet, you're always so understanding and you help me thinking positively..." Her smiled widened. "You're really supportive."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

"That is an accurate analisys." Aigis noted. "Roy-san is a very caring person."

I smiled. "Thanks Aigis."

* * *

We got back to the dorm without much else happening. I found Junpei sittin' by himself at the table, so I went over to talk to him.

"Hey dude." I said. "What cha' thinking about?"

"Huh?" He looked at me. "Oh, hey Roy. I was just thinkin' about Ken."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"That's the crazy thing! I have no idea!" He replied. "I dunno what it is about that guy, but my 'Junpei-sense' is going crazy around him. Either he's a little punk, or he's WAY more mature than I am..." He sighed. "I dunno man, is it just me?"

I looked over at Ken. He's talking to Akihiko about something right now, from the looks of it.

"Well..." I began, looking back at Junpei. "Maybe it's his Persona."

"Huh?"

"It's powerful. Not fully awakened, but damn strong." I told him. "It's capable of almost as much asskicking as Shinjiro's is."

Junpei seemed surprised. "Whoa, really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's crazy." I looked at Ken again. "But, now that you mention it, there IS something kinda off about him..." I shook my head. "Gah, why are we worrying about this? Mentally mature or not, he's technically still a kid. Can't cause too much trouble, right?"

"Eh, you're probably right." Junpei agreed.

_'You're going to hate yourself for saying that later.'_

I really don't doubt that.

"Fortune, can I speak to you for a moment?"

The two of us turned to see Mitsuru standing nearby.

"Uh, sure." I responded, then followed Mitsuru up to the second floor. "What about?"

"I would like to know what you were doing with Aigis and Yamagishi at the mall today." She stated, turning around to face me.

"Ah, yes, that." I sighed a little. "Well, here's the deal. Aigis doesn't have anything to wear, and seeing as Ken's living here now, I thought he might find it odd that, as far as he knows, there's another person living her who he never, ever sees or talks to. Due to him not being a member of SEES, we can't exactly tell him what Aigis is, but we can at least try and fool him into thinking she's just another person who lives here. And to do that, she'd need something to wear that hides her joints, which are the most tell-tale signs she's a machine. Makes sense, right?"

"I see..." mused Mitsuru. "That is some impressive forsight on your part, Fortune."

I chuckled nervously. "There's also the fact that due to Aigis insisting to be around me alot, she might follow me around durring summer break. Probably a good idea to keep her hidden from regular people as well."

"Indeed." She agreed, then smiled. "You seem to have taken to Aigis very well."

I laughed a little. "Well, yeah. I mean, she's technically a demon-slaying robot. That automatically gives her the right to replace Junpei as my best friend as far as I'm concerned."

Mitsuru laughed a little as well. "Reguardless, I'm glad to see you're trying to make her feel welcome."

"I'll do something for Ken, too." I stated. "But first I've gotta take care of the tournament for Tennis. Speaking of which, I'm going to be out of town for that on the 1st and 2nd of August, so while I'm gone you should probably lead any Tartarus runs durring that time."

She nodded. "Very well. Thank you for informing me."

"Okay then." I yawned. "Imma go to bed now. Got to do some Tennis training tomorrow." I turned and started down the hall to my room. "G'night, Senpai."

Training is going to be hell.

_'It doesn't have to be.'_

Eyebrow. What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?

_'I'm you. I know everything about you. I can give you back your awesome Tennis skills because I remember them perfectly.'_

...I now have an evil plan.

_'I like where this is going.'_

You would, wouldn't you?

* * *

Next morning after I was up and dressed, I headed off to school after explaining to Aigis about the Tennis tournament. She wasn't happy she couldn't tag along, but thankfully agreed to stay behind.

Once I was at school and in my tennis gear, I had an evil grin on my face as I strolled onto the Tennis Court. Rio, Hamuko, Yuko, and most of the other members were there as well. Hell, even Kaz showed up.

"Hey Coach." I greeted with my racket resting on my shoulder.

"Good, you made it!" He beamed. "Now, let's get to work."

"One thing first, though." I said, holding up a hand. "I want to have a match with Rio. A REAL match. Serious buisness and all that jazz."

That raised a lot of eyebrows. "Why?"

I grinned. "Because you guys haven't seen me when I'm serious, and seeing as Rio's the best on the team, why not give us both a challenge?"

Coach Yamato laughed. "Alright, if that's what you want, by all means. Just get warmed up first."

My grin turned sinister. "Sure thing, Coach."

* * *

"You sure about this, Roy-kun?" Rio asked once we finished warming up and moved onto the court we'd be facing off on.

"Very sure." I replied. "You want to serve first?"

She shook her head. "No, you can. This was your idea."

I grinned evily. "Alrighty then."

I grabbed a tennis ball, then walked to my spot and bounced it on the ground a few times. Ready, Shade?

_'Always ready.'_

Shiny. "You ready, Rio?"

"Gimme your best shot!"

My expression turned psychotic. "My best, eh? Okay, but you asked for it!"

I threw the ball into the air, then smashed it at Rio. It hit the ground near her foot, then rebounded past her leg and landed outside of the Tennis court.

"Ace." I grinned, standing upright. Everyone was looking at me in awe, even the Coach.

"Whoa, did you see that?" asked Sasuke to nobody in particular.

"He got an ace on Rio-chan!"

Rio looked back at where the ball landed, then turned back to me with a determined smirk on her face.

"You've been holding back until now, haven't you, Roy-kun?" She asked.

I just grinned more. "A little bit. Your serve, Rio."

* * *

It was close, but I managed to actually beat Rio in a serious singles match. Having my old tennis experiences back in short order was a big help, plus the usual workouts I get at Tartarus made me a freakin' monster. Once the Coach saw that, he told me that I was going to help him drill everyone else so they might gain my level of awesome. And I did just that.

I wasn't too worn out when I finally got back to the dorm, so I gathered up everyone for a Trip to Tartarus.

I took Aigis, Yukari, and Akihiko with me so I don't have to worry about group healing as much myself. Unfortunetly, I found out Aigis and Yukari both have a vulnerability to Zio skills, so I shouldn't bring them both along at the same time in the future.

Nothing too horrible happened until we got up to this weird floor that apparently had only one Shadow on it. And there was absolutely no way around it. Undaunted, we went up to it and saw the damn thing.

It was this big, freakish technicolor blob that was similar to a standard Maya-type Shadow. Heirophant Arcana, as I noted from the mask. Shit got bad once Fuuka scanned it.

_{H-Huh? What the...}_

I don't like that. "What's wrong?"

_{T-That shadow! It has no weaknesses, and it's increadably powerful!}_

Uh oh... "Define 'increadably powerful', please."

_{WATCH OUT!}_

The four of us scattered when a several dark meteors decended from nowhere and utterly obliterated the spot I was just standing at. Holy shit, what the FUCK was that?

_'Shit, that was Black Viper!'_

How do you know what that is?

_'Elizabeth told me. She just barged into your head through the Velvet Door and is telling me to inform you to _GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE_.'_

Don't have to tell me twice! "FUUKA! WHERE ARE THE STAIRS?"

_{They're past the Shadow, but there's a barrier blocking the way!}_ She reported. _{And it's giving off the same energy as the Shadow!}_

DOUBLE FUCK, AND IT'S ATTACKING AGAIN! "LOOK OUT!"

We scattered again as more of those Black Viper meteors started raining down. "AIGIS! WE NEED SUKUKAJA!"

"Understood! Summoning Persona!"

Palladion appeared and quickly supplied the entire team with Sukukaja as Yukari and Akihiko tried in vain to damage this thing. It shrugged off our attacks like they were nothing. I busted out Shade's Claws, and even those weren't doing much. I only got close enough to attack with them once anyways, and damn near got disintagrated.

**BA-DOOM** "I-I'm S-Soo-orrry-yy..."

"AIGIS!"

AIGIS? I looked over and she was laying in a shallow crater, not moving. No. No no no. That did not just happen! I ran over to Aigis quickly. She was stiff as a board. I pulled out a card I kept these things called Balms of Life in. Apparently they can revive people who've been knocked out with full stamina. Time to see if that's true!

"ROY, WATCH OUT!"

I looked up to see orbs of dark energy flying towards me. I braced myself for what I was sure would be my demise... But nothing happened.

_{WH-WHAT IS THAT THING?}_

"WHAT THE HELL IS IT DOING!"

I opened my eyes to see the back of a bloodstained jacket blocking my view.

What. The. FUCK.

**'Know your place, vermin.' **came the Reaper's deep monotone as it raised a pistol at the Rainbow Doom Maya. **'You are not welcome in my domain.'**

An angry hiss came from the other Shadow before it hurled another cluster of black orbs at the Reaper. He countered them with a massive blast of white energy from one of his pistols.

**'You dare stand against me?' **Now the Reaper actually sounds angry. **'The Master of Tartarus? You will pay for your incolence!'**

He charged towards the Rainbow Maya and pistol whipped it into a wall. The Maya crawled back out and blasted the Reaper again, but he mostly shrugged it off and started blasting away with his pistols. Holy fuck, the Reaper is helping us.

_'Stop gawking and use that Balm of Life on Aigis you idiot!'_

Oh, right! I drew one from within the card and crushed it over Aigis. A moment later, her eyes sprang open.

"System Rebooted." She reported, sitting up. She looked around and saw the Reaper fighting the Doom Maya, and seemed confused. "Why are the Shadows fighting one another?"

"No clue, but the one with guns is called The Reaper, and it just saved our ass." I told Aigis, quickly helping her to her feet. "We're going to just stay the hell out of the way of that brawl."

**BANG BANG**

I looked over and the Maya was screeching in anger as the familiar black-red mist Shadows disolve into was leaking out of a wound in it. More black orbs shot at the Reaper, who countered with blasts of white. Not liking that, the Maya actually charged at him and smacked him into a wall with one of its hands.

The Reaper responded to that by melting into the wall, then reappearing from one behind it and pistol whipped it again, sending it skidding along the ground. It got up, then looked at us and started prepairing another one of those Black Viper attacks, only for Reaps to blast it a few times to get its attention back.

**'I am your opponent.'** Stated the Master of Tartarus. **'Not them.'**

The Maya hissed, then hurled its attack at the Reaper, who merely melted into the floor, then reappeared right infront of the smaller Shadow.

**'This is the end for you, vermin.'** He said, pointing his revolvers at the Maya's mask. **'Farewell.'**

**KA-BLAM**

The Rainbow Doom Maya was now a hole in the ground. A really big one.

_'There is no kill like overkill.'_

Indeed.

The Reaper's arms dropped to his sides, and he appeared to sigh. **'I despise those creatures.' **He turned his attention to us. **'You are unharmed?**'

"Uh, yeah..." I replied. Everyone else was probably standing with their jaws on the floor.

**'Good.'** He floated towards a wall. **'I would hate to see you fall in battle before I can fight you myself.'**

I blinked. "What."

**'I intend to fight you.' **Repeated the Reaper. **'I would not be honing my skills for that day if I merely wanted to destroy you.'**

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

**'Farewell, human.'** said the Master of Tartarus before he melted into a wall.

There was a long, rather awkward silence.

"Roy?"

"I don't even know, Akihiko. I don't even know."

* * *

Aigis was not happy about the prospect of me eventually fighting the Reaper, but she calmed down once I told her it probably wouldn't be for a long time, by which point I'd be able to put up a decent fight against him.

Once we got back down to the lobby of Tartarus, I told everyone to pack up and head back to the dorm, because I damn near died back there and just found out I have a duel with the Reaper at somepoint in the future.

The next day saw more of me drilling the other members of the Tennis team, except Aigis tagged along. Thankfully she stayed out of sight and watched from a distance so I didn't have to try and think up a story that wouldn't backfire on me.

I was really restless back at the dorm, though, so I opted to take over for Akihiko on patrolling the city in case regular Shadows start causing trouble. He was surprised I was up for it.

"Dude, after last night, a late night stroll around the city by myself might do me some good." I told him as I suited up. "I need to clear my head a little."

"Alright, if you're sure about this..."

* * *

Aaah, if there's one thing I like about this time of night, it's that it actually gets kind of chilly dispite it being summer. Even moreso when the Dark Hour hits.

It's near the end of my patrol, and my last stop is Naganaki Shrine. I walked up the steps and looked around. Nothing goin' on.

"Woof!"

Hrm? I looked over and saw Koromaru trotting up to me. Heh, little guy really does have the potentcial.

"Hey Koro." I greeted, kneeling down and patting the dog's head. I looked closely at him. His Persona is Hachiko. Heh, fitting. I've heard the story myself at least once. I scratched him behind the ears a little, then he backed away and started growling.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Koro kept growling, then barked a few times. I turned around to see one of those Knight-type Shadows staring at us. Well shit.

"Fuuka!" I said quickly. "We've got a problem!"

_{What's the matter, Roy-kun?}_

"There's a Shadow at Naganaki Shrine!" I informed her, summoning Shade's Claws. "Get the others over here, fast!"

_{O-Okay!}_

The Shadow's horse reared back slightly, then it charged towards us. I dove aside and Koro lept in another direction. I turned to see Koro lunge and bite into the Shadow's arm, only for it to throw him off a moment later.

"Koromaru!" I shouted, then pulled out my evoker. "Take-Mikazuchi!" **BANG**

The thunder god surged forward and clashed with the Knight shadow as I darted over to the potentcially wounded dog. Koro let out a small whimper of confusion and shook his head a few times as he got back up. I don't think it's a good idea for him to be biting Shadows. I reached into my pocket, then pulled out a card and morphed it into a dagger.

"Here." I held the weapon out to him. "If you wanna fight that, you'll need this."

Koro gave a sort of nod, then took the dagger in his mouth. Smart dog.

"Alright, Koromaru!" I stood up and turned back just as Take-Mikazuchi vanished. "Let's take this thing down!"

I heard a muffled bark of agreement before the two of us charged at the Shadow. It stabbed with its lance, but I danced around the weapon and slashed at its arm while Koro lept and got a solid hit in on its mask. The Shadow howled in rage, then a blast of wind sent me flying on one direction and Koro in the other. Fucking shit, that smarts...

_'Take-Mikazuchi is weak to wind.'_

Ah, right. Persona Switch! Pale Rider.

I got back up and saw Koro lying a ways away, seemingly unconcious. The Shadow apparently decided I was better prey, and thus I was forced to block and parry attacks from its lance. It started getting the upperhand when a low growl cut through the air, then Koromaru came outta nowhere and slashed at the Shadow's back. It whirled around and smacked him with its spear, causing Koro to whimper in pain. Oh hell, it put a gash on his stomach!

I didn't get the chance to go back to help the little guy because now the Knight is five kinds of pissed and gunning for me yet again. I kept parrying, blocking, and dodging spear attacks and wind blasts before I managed to grab the weapon and slam my fist into the Shadow's mask, stunning it long enough for me to put some distance between it and me. I got over to Koromaru, who was struggling to stand.

"Hey, are you..." I paused when I saw blue mist spiralling around Koromaru.

_**'I am thou... and Thou art I...'**_

What in the hell?

Koromaru let out a long howl and the form of a large brown semi-robotic dog with a metal colar appeared above him.

_**'From the sea of thine soul, the resolution of thine heart calls forth new power...'**_

Fire spiralled around the Persona, enveloping it in brilliant light before dieing down. A large, black, three-headed hellbeast stood in its place.

**_'Hachiko has given rise to Cerberus!'_**

HOLY SHIT, GO KOROMARU!

The Shadow let out a confused shriek. Koromaru growled, then barked angrily. Cerberus responded with a bark of his own, causing hellfire to burst forth and surround the shadow. It screamed in pain as it was burnt to cinders by the wrath of the Guardian of the Underworld. When the flames died down a few moments later, the shadow completely destroied. Koro let out a low whimper, then dropped to the ground again.

"Koromaru!" I kneeled down next to him. That wound is pretty bad...

_'Dia! Dia the little guy, now!'_

Yeah, on it! Stroked the fur on Koromaru's back, channeling Medias and Diaramas into him. I could tell it was working because the pool of blood forming underneath him slowed. Koro looked up at me with a small sparkle in his eyes.

_(Thank you...)_

I smirked. "Anytime, little buddy. Good work."

**CRASH**

Whoa, what?

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

Heh. No complaints here.

"Koro-chan!" I looked over to see Fuuka and the others running towards us. Yukari and Fuuka came over and kneeled next to me and Koromaru. "Are you okay, Koro-chan?"

"You know this dog?" asked Mitsuru.

"Yeah, everyone around here does..." Yukari informed her. "We have to help him!"

"First, we must stop the bleeding."

"Taken care of." I stated, patting the dog a few times and channeling a bit more Dia into him.

"What happened to the Shadow?" asked Shinijro.

"Koromaru." I stated, scratching behind the dog's ears. "Has a Persona."

Koro gave a low bark.

"He says 'This is a place of peace, so I protected it.'" Aigis translated. Not that she needed to, I understood it as well.

"Those flowers we saw..." Fuuka began. "They must be for the priest who died in the accident..."

Yukari looked at Koromaru. "So, he really was guarding this place..."

Koromaru gave a bark of affirmation. Junpei turned to Aigis.

"Uh, Aigis? Don't tell me you can translate dog language too..."

"Canines do not have their own language." She stated matter-of-factly. "However, speech is not the only means of communication."

"Personae are another." I noted.

"This fella really is a rare breed..." Akihiko commented as Koro wagged his tail a little.

"Confirmed." Aigis nodded.

"Alright, let's report to the Chairman, so we can conclude this mission." stated Mitsuru. "As for a vet, it maybe be midnight, but I believe I can arrange for one."

"Good job, boy." Yukari cooed, rubbing the injured dog's head. "You're one amazing dog..."

Koromaru barked weakly, but happily.

* * *

Author Notes - And now you know why the Reaper hasn't been making trouble for Roy's crew very much. For those of you wondering what the hell the Rainbow Doom Maya is, it's the Indolent Maya from The Answer. It can only be found in the last section of the Desert Of Doors in those Pink 'Formidable foe' Shadows. It's level 99 and resists everything and is immune to Hama and Mudo. It's only skills are Black Viper and Sharp Student, and it is a bitch to kill without any Almighty Skills. Why did one of them show up at a point where the party would maybe be just getting to around level 32? Because I can and I wanted to do something awesome with the Reaper.

Also, YAY KOROMARU! And to make sense of what happened with him and his Persona, I've always held the belief that his Persona Resolved into Cerberus that night from whatever it was before, thus explaining why it had the Nulification-level resistances that characterize Resolved Personas of the party. Plus you got to see the little Resolution speech thing that will be accompanying future resolutions once October 4th rolls on by. And get ready, because Roy's going to Inaba next chapter! Wacky Hijinks will ensue. As will awesome.


	25. Fun times in Inaba

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Fanfic Reader Guy**- Sorry for the late review response(I think you posted it right after I put up chapter 24!) The Summertime Snowball Fight is easily among my favorite scenes that I've written so far. Just the mental imagery it calls up in my mind makes me chuckle. I like the Ekoda scene the best, though, because honestly I don't see that guy suffering enough despite being the biggest prick ever. And don't worry, Roy won't get in TOO much trouble for beating on him, BUUUUUUT you'll have to wait until September rolls around in the story to find out about that. Mwehehehehe.

**ShadowLucas15**- Okay, yeah, that's probably right. It's official, I'm hitting the god damn spell checker on these chapters now because I'm a freaking idiot who types REALLY FAST and often doesn't notice his own mistakes. Honestly, I think I'm probably one of the only people who's done something really, really out there with certain bits of the story. Like Yakushima and the insanity that went down there(I also noticed that between this story, the Fairly English Story, and Lusnati Style I'm the only one who actually did the entire Operation Babe Hunt scene) and hell, even completely adding a really, really unique Social Link with the Reaper. I honestly wonder if anyone else thought of trying that before I did.

**Imbecile 862**- Glad you like it(Even though your reviews are for the really early chapters). And Yeah, if you read this story, thar will be spoilers. Lots of them. And I'm not going to give a definite yes or no on Roy's Love Interest until it starts becoming very, very obvious(and by that I mean Roy outright says who it is). As for the FES Video Recordings, You've reminded me I have to start mentioning those. I'll be sure to get on that in chapter 26. Lulz will be had.

And now, on with the Chapter!

* * *

Shinjiro ended up carrying Koromaru to a vet once the Dark Hour ended. Went to bed and went through drilling Tennis Club again the next day. They're beginning to take levels in Badass. It makes me proud.

We stayed in that night, and I was informed the Chairman would be coming by tomorrow for details on what happened with Koromaru. I shrugged it off and went to bed slightly early.

"Good evening."

Or at least I tried to. I sat up in bed to see Pharos sitting on my chair in the Dark Hour. "Hey Pharos. Week left till the next full moon, right?"

He nodded. "Indeed. It's becoming quite lively around you. How are you getting along with the others?"

"Pretty well, I'd wager." I commented with a shrug.

"I'm glad to hear that." Pharos smiled. "Are you prepared for your next ordeal? To be honest, I'm not too worried about you... However, you should still remain cautious."

He vanished from my chair and reappeared near the door. "I'll come see you again."

"G'night, Pharos." Back to sleep for me...

* * *

Today was the final day of Pre-trip practice. They were as good as they could get in the amount of time we had, so the Coach ordered us to head home and rest up once we were done with the practice matches. I was a little sore, but otherwise fine.

I headed up to the Command Room to meet with everyone once I got back to the dorm.

"So from what I understand, you encountered a Shadow at Naganaki Shrine." began Sketchtsuki. "And you fought it off with help from a dog capable of using a Persona."

I nodded. "Correct. I was finishing up my patrol and stopped by the shrine. I found Koromaru there, awake during the Dark Hour. I stopped to pet him a little, then a Shadow appeared and we fought it off. Well, more accurately Koromaru's Persona incinerated it after it changed."

That confused everyone.

"It changed?" Mitsuru asked. "Are you saying Koromaru can use multiple Personae as well?"

I shook my head. "No, I mean it evolved or something. When I got there, his Persona was Hachiko of the Strength Arcana. By the time you arrived, it had transformed into Cerberus of the Strength Arcana."

Mitsuru and Sketchtsuki looked at each other, then back at me.

"Can you describe what happened?" asked the Chairman, leaning forward intently.

"Sure thing." I replied. "The Shadow had wounded Koromaru and was attacking me, then I stunned it enough to get over to the little guy. Before I could check his wound, he let out a howl and Hachiko, appeared. Then I heard a voice."

"A voice?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What did it say?"

"'I am thou, and thou art I.'" I repeated. "'From the sea of thine soul, the resolution of thine heart calls forth new power. Hachiko has given rise to Cerberus.'" I stifled a yawn. "As that happened, Hachiko was enveloped in flames before re-emerging as Cerberus and killing the Shadow with a powerful fire attack before vanishing."

"I see..." Sketchtsuki rubbed his chin. "Very interesting."

"You know what happened?"

He shook his head. "Not quite, but I will look into it. If I discover anything, I'll let you know."

Oh goody.

* * *

I went downstairs to my room and found Ken sitting at the lounge on the second floor.

"Hello." he greeted.

"Hey." I responded. "What's up?"

"I was wondering... You all stay up so late. I try to stay up as late as you guys, but I'm always the first one to fall asleep." He told me, frowning slightly. "What do you guys do when you're up so late?"

Perceptive, I'll give him that. "I'd tell you, but Mitsuru and the Chairman won't let me."

Ken's frown got wider. "Why not?"

"Probably because they don't think you're old enough." I sighed. "Between you and me, I say you're more then capable of handling it."

He blinked. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you and me are kind of alike, ya know? I lost my parents when I was six."

Ken's eyes widened. "You did?"

I sighed, but nodded again. "Yeah. I held onto my mom as she died in my arms." I wiped a tear from my eye. "Stuff like that can really make a kid think like an adult."

"You're right." He nodded knowingly. "I had something similar happen when my mom died..."

I smiled. "As long as you're not dwelling on the past, you'll be fine." I walked over and patted him on the shoulder, then headed down the hall. "G'night, Ken."

"Goodnight, Roy-san."

I really hope we don't have to get him involved in this.

* * *

I went to bed after I packed some clothes for the trip. I waved goodbye to everyone when I left the dorm that morning after I got out of Aigis' death glomp.

Met Hamuko, Rio, Kaz, and Yuko at the train station.

"So where we headed?" I asked. "Coach never told me where we're going."

"We're headed to a town called Inaba." Hamuko informed me. "It's a little rural town our school has a fellowship with."

"Really? Tha-" My head snapped to face Hamuko. "Wait, Inaba? Seriously?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

I grinned. "Dude! My uncle lives there!"

That surprised them.

"You have an uncle here in Japan?" Kaz asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. He's my mom's older brother. Hell, I was born here." I chuckled a little. "I just got my looks more from my dad."

"Really?" Yuko sounded even more surprised. "Then, how come you transferred here from America?"

I shrugged. "Apparently it was worked out before I was born that if something bad happened to my parents, my dad's brother, my uncle Shane, would look after me." I sighed a little. "But whatever. It'll be nice to see him again."

Rio raised an eyebrow. "Do you even remember what he looks like?"

"Oh yeah." I grinned. "I got a good memory."

* * *

Coach and the rest of the team showed up a little while later and we headed off to Inaba. We ended up playing poker on the trip over, which resulted in me walking off the train with a big grin on my face and half the team grumbling how they'd never, EVER play cards with me ever again.

_'Because you don't gamble.'_

Hell no. I win and take your money because I'm awesome. And I punch you if you don't pay up. Granted, we used Tartarus gems(that I told them were glass bead things I carried around in case of spontaneous poker, which was helped by the fact they're roughly the size of an American dime) for poker chips and everybody gave them back when the game was over, but I still won a lot.

Surprisingly, Ms. Kanou actually showed up for the trip and commented on the rustic nature of the town as we greeted the students from Yasoinaba High. Seems like a nice place. Once the introductions were over, we headed up to their Tennis courts. First thing Rio did? Start goin' on about practice drills and such.

"Aren't we supposed to like, bond in a fellowship?" asked on the Inaba students. "Why's she bringing up stuff like basic drills?"

"Because that's the way Rio does things." I told him. "And before you ask, nobody on the team cares about my lack of honorifics so don't even start with me."

"Who's the liar who said this place would be a paradise with hot springs?" whined Hayato, one of my fellow Tennis Club members.

"Ah, quit your bitching." I told him, stretching a little. "If I read the little guide thingie right, there's a hot spring at the inn we're staying at." I hopped up and down. "So, who wants to have a practice match before the tournament tomorrow?"

A few of the Inaba students scoffed. "You really wanna get beat THAT badly?"

I grinned evilly. "Oh, we'll just see about that."

"Oh, I know!" Yuko proclaimed. "How's about the loosing side has to clean up?"

"DONE." I agreed, grabbing my racket. "Let the games begin!"

* * *

"Roy-kun, did you really have to go and completely demolish them like that?" Hamuko asked after I finished stomping most of their team into the dirt with some help from Rio.

I shrugged. "It's their own fault for taunting me like that."

"Dude, now they're gonna beat us for sure tomorrow!" Kaz griped. "You were supposed to be our secret weapon!"

"Oh, don't worry." I smirked. "I've got some tricks even you guys haven't seen."

"Ah... this town is so laid back..." Rio hummed contently as we headed towards the front of the high school, completely oblivious to the conversation we were having. "I love it! Last year's fellowship wasn't too far from Iwatodai. That shopping district we passed seemed pretty lively, though. What a peaceful town. It'd be nice to live here."

"Yeah." I agreed as a girl with short hair approached us. Priestess Arcana.

"Are you the club members from Gekkoukan High School?" she asked. Her uniform doesn't match the one the other students were wearing, and she looks kinda young. Must still be in middle school. "The Amagi Inn sent me to get you."

"Oh cool, thanks." I said to her. "Do you work there?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just helping out. I'm Yukiko Amagi, the daughter of the hostess of the Amagi Inn."

"Whoa..." Hamuko was awestruck. "That's so cool!"

"Are you in High School?" Yuko asked.

Yukiko shook her head again. "No... I'm still in middle school."

"You're in middle school and already helping with the family business?" Yuko sounds impressed. "Man, talk about responsible..."

"Yuko, don't start sticking your nose into her business." I warned. "You've got enough problems with that back at Gekkoukan."

Yukiko giggled. "I don't mind. It's fun chatting with people from outside town."

"Ah, Yuki-chan!" called out a voice. "Did you take the car keys?"

Yukiko turned around and looked at the kimono-clad woman who approached us. "Oh, Kasai-san." Her face shifted into a look of confusion. "Car keys? Why would I...?" She felt around in her pocket. "Huh?" She pulled out a small keyring. "What's this?" Her eyes widened. "I-I'm so sorry. I must've mistaken them for my house keys..."

"No worries." laughed Kasai. "Well, I'm heading out to get some groceries."

"Oh, do you want me to go instead?" Yukiko asked in a slight panic.

Kasai shook her head. "N-No, that's fine. No need to send you on that kind of errand, Yuki-chan."

* * *

After that slightly awkward conversation was over, Yukiko led us to the Inn. I got changed into some more casual clothes, then headed out into town. Coach Yamato told me to be back before dark, but I informed him I was going to visit my uncle who lived here.

"Is that so?" He asked. "Well, in that case just don't be out all night. We need you for tomorrow!"

I nodded. "You got it, bossman!" I turned and headed down the stairs to the front of the inn. On the way out, I bumped into a girl with short brown hair with a green sweater tied around her waist. Rather literally.

"Sorry about that." I apologized, helping her up. Chariot Arcana. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She said, brushing her legs off. "Are you one of those high schoolers staying here?"

"Yep." I replied with a quick nod. "Just heading out into town to visit my uncle."

That surprised her. "Really?"

I nodded again. "Yeah. Haven't seen him in about ten years, and since I'm in town, I might as well say hi."

"Oh, Chie-san!"

We both turned to see Yukiko approaching us.

"Hi Yukiko!" the girl greeted back, then she looked at me. "Well, I've gotta go." She sighed slightly. "Homework sucks."

I laughed. "I know the feeling." I started out the door. "Later days, ladies!"

* * *

So now I'm walking down the street kinda late at night, headin' to the local Shopping District.

_'You even know where his house is?'_

I know what I'm doing. And if you're me, you should know as well.

_'...This is true.'_

I shook my head slightly as I rounded a corner. I passed a liquor store and a textile shop and kept going down the street. I spotted a shrine and some kinda food stand. C'mon, where is it? General store... Tofu shop... AH HA! There it is!

I walked up to the door and knocked on it a few times. I smirked as I heard the sound of a someone pounding on metal stop. A few moments later, the door slid open and a muscular old man with a red beard and scars on his face stood before me.

"Sorry, my shop's clo-" He stopped once he got a good look at me.

"Hi Uncle Kihei." I grinned. "Been what, ten years?"

* * *

"Ha ha! Good to see you again, Roy!" laughed my uncle as we sat down in his kitchen. "Why didn't you tell me you were in Japan?"

I shrugged. "Figure'd Uncle Shane would've let you know I was gonna be here." I laughed a little. "Guess that was a bad move on my part. So, how's business been for ya?"

"Eh, could be better." He admitted. "Not many people buy my art."

My uncle's a blacksmith, by the way. Damn good one, too. Bit artsy, but I'm the same way about my sketching.

"That sucks..." I commented, leaning back in my chair a little. I looked over in the direction of his forge. "So what's your latest project?"

He grinned. "Something outta this world."

Oh? "Can I see?"

Uncle Kihei nodded, then we stood up. We moved over to his workshop and he showed me what he was working on. It looked like a normal shield, but there was something off about... Wait a second... I grabbed the shield out of his hands.

"Hey, what're you-!"

"Just a second." I started channeling a Zionga into my hand. It was more powerful then normal. No doubt about it, this weapon has Persona-effecting traits in it.

"H-How did you do that?" He asked in wide-eyed wonder as I handed him back the shield. I looked at him. Daikokuten. Emperor Arcana.

"Where did you get materials you used to make this?" I asked.

He looked away. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Daikokuten of the Emperor Arcana, right?" I raised an eyebrow. He looked back at me in surprise. "Yeah. I've got one, too."

He sighed. "How long for you?"

"Since the night mom died, apparently." I sighed back. "You?"

"About the the same, according to Theodore."

I raised an eyebrow. "Theodore?"

"That would be me."

I turned to see a dude in a blue flight attendant suit standing in the shop with Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted you to meet my brother." She said, indicating the man next to her.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Master Roy." He said, bowing slightly. "My name is Theodore."

Kihei looked at me. "You know them?"

I looked at my Uncle. "YOU know them?"

There was a long, awkward silence.

"So uh..." I began, looking over at the two velvet room siblings. "Care to explain?"

* * *

So yeah, it turns out my Uncle has a Persona, can enter the Dark Hour, uses bits of Shadows to make battle axes and other such implements of murder while still insisting it's art, and has been talking to Theodore, who is Elizabeth's younger brother, to know how to do that thing with the shadow bits as well as how persona bullshit works.

"So, why exactly has this not been brought up sooner?" I asked. "I mean, don't you think it's important for me to know my Uncle's been fighting Shadows probably longer then I have?"

"To be fair, we did not know you were related until a short time ago today." stated Theodore. "And even if we had, we had no reason to tell you."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why not?"

"Because it does not involve your journey." said Elizabeth firmly.

Light Bulb. "Preparations for the guest after me?" Most logical guess if it has nothing to do with me. I suppose.

They nodded.

"Ah, okay then. That's understandable." I nodded back. "So how long you been workin' together?"

"A couple months, actually." Stated my Uncle. "But not too long after the Star Festival, it started getting a teeny bit foggy during the Dark Hour around here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Foggy?"

He nodded. "It's basically a forewarning about something, according to them."

I looked at the Velvet Attendants. "That true?"

"Indeed." replied Theodore. "Though you need not concern yourself. It is a matter for the next Wild Card."

I shrugged. "Alrighty then. I got enough supernatural crazy in my life." I looked at my watch. "Ah hell, I better start headin' back to the Inn. Gettin' late."

"That's fine." My uncle patted me on the shoulder. "Give those Shadows hell for me when you get back to Iwatodai, alright?"

I smirked. "No problem, Uncle Kihei."

As I walked out of My Uncle's shop, I saw the Velvet Siblings enter a Velvet Door just off to the side of the entrance.

_'How the hell did we not see that?'_

I dunno. Maybe we were just too excited to see good ol' Uncle Kihei Daidara again?

_'Probably. Let's get back to the Inn.'_

Yeah, let's.

* * *

So now I'm headin' back up the street. Once I passed the Textile Shop, though, I started hearing something. The hell...? Sounds like motorcycles. I kept walking and once I got to the main road, I saw a bunch of punks with Motorcycles all goofin' around, loudly I might add. I ignored them and just started headin' back to the Inn when suddenly the engines got louder and a few of them drove past and stopped in front of me.

"Where do ya' think yer' goin' at this time a night?" asked one of them. Devil Arcana.

"Uh, back to the Amagi Inn." I replied. "Why?"

"Nah, see, that won't do." said another. Magician. "Ya gots ta' pay ta' use our street."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't see your name on it, so why don't you morons take your bikes and go ramp off a cliff or something? I gotta get back." I started to walk past when engines revved and they tightened their little circle around me.

"I don't like your attitude, punk." snarled a different guy. Strength. Probably the ring leader of these idiots. "You better learn some respect!"

"And you need to learn how to LISTEN." I grunted. "I'm going back to the Amagi Inn, end of story. Now get out of my way."

"So that's it, huh?" Growled Strength. "Boys! Rough 'im up!"

The gang started revving their motorcycles and laughing sinisterly. I'd be worried if I wasn't, ya know, completely capable of just wind blasting all these punks out of my way. Before anyone could do anything, though, one of them got knocked the fuck off his bike and landed in a heap near me.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" HOLY SHIT IT'S YURI LOWELL! No, wait, it's just some punk lookin' kid. Looks like he's in Middle School. Emperor Arcana and he's got a folding chair in his hands. "I'M TAKIN' YOU PUNKS DOWN!"

"You want some too?" snarled Devil. "Fine then!"

He revved his bike and, stupidly, tried to ram the new kid, only to get bitchsmacked off of said bike via Folding Chair to the face. Okay, this kid is now among the most badass human being to ever exist ever, the others being Uncle Kihei, Uncle Shane, and Shinjiro.

The rest of the punks hopped off their bikes and a couple went for him while the rest came after me. I ducked under a punch and flipped one thug into his buddy before backhanding a third just in time for a fourth to tackle me to the ground. I shoved him off, then rolled away before a guy could hit me with the chain he had. I sprang to my feet, then drove my palm into a guy's chest, channeling a Mudo into him to put him out could. The chain guy swung at me, but I grabbed it and yanked, causing him to stumble forward so I could slam my knee into his face.

I spun around and Hama-punched another guy, then turned to see how the Emperor kid was doing. Okay, he just threw his chair at a dude's FACE, then punched him while it was still in the air. And HOLY SHIT HE KICKED THE CHAIR AT- **WHONK** -The guy I did not see was standing behind me. Nice aim.

"You okay?" He asked. I looked at the dudes he was fighting. He fucked them up GOOD.

"Yeah, I'm good." I replied, brushing my shirt off. "Thanks for the assist, dude."

"No problem." He grinned. "Can't stand these guys makin' so much noise."

"Heh." I smirked. "Well, see ya around." I turned and started walking off. "Might wanna call the cops to come deal with these idiots. If anyone asks, they fell off their bikes because they're stupid."

"Alright, see ya!"

* * *

I got back to the Inn at around ten-thirty. Found Yuko, Rio, and Hamuko hanging around in my room along with Kaz, who was supposed to be the only other person in here with me.

"What's all this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We wanted to hang out and felt bad when we heard Kaz was in here by himself." Hamuko shrugged. "Where were you, anyways?"

"Went to see my Uncle." I told her, tossing my hat onto the mat I was gonna be sleeping on. "Got into a fight on the way back."

"WHAT?"

"I'm fine." I said, dismissing their worry. "It was self defense anyways, and some local kid helped me out. Beat a few of 'em in the face with a folding chair." I laughed a little. "Reminds me of something I saw on the internet once..." I tapped my chin. "Hey, this place have WiFi?"

Yuko nodded. "Yeah, why?"

I smirked. "You wanna see that thing I was just talking about?" I walked over to my bag and dug out my Laptop. "It's kinda hilarious."

The four of them looked at each other for a second, then shrugged and looked back at me. "Sure."

"Cool." I set my laptop down and booted it up. They crowded around me once I got onto the Internets. "I got it on my favorites still."

I clicked the link and waited for the Video to load. Took a few minutes, then I finally started.

_["Sir, I'm going to a-"]_

_["LET'S GET DOWN TO BUISNESS~!"] _Sang a shark tooth-grinning green-haired short guy as he defied at least two laws of physics while kicking one zookeeper in the face before rebounding off his chest and smashing a folding chair over the head of another guy. _["TO DEFEAT~!"]_ He backhanded a different zoo worker and sent him staggering into a trashcan. _["THE HUNS~!"]_

"Roy, what is that guy saying?" Asked Rio.

"He's speaking English." Hamuko clarified. "Singing, actually. What song is that?"

"You guys ever seen that Disney movie called Mulan?" I asked as the green haired guy went onto the bit about 'finding your center' as he drove both his feet into some guy's spine. "He's singing the song from the Training Montague. Ya know, 'Make a Man out of You'?"

"Wait, seriously?" Kaz asked as green did some kinda judo-throw thing, sending one guy into another. "And he's fighting while doing it?"

"Eyup." I replied.

_["You're a SPINELESS, PALE, PATHETIC LOT~!"]_Green punctuated that sentence by literally SURFING his chair into a guy's face. _["AND YOU HAVEN'T~ GOT~ A CLUE~!"] _He did some kinda skateboarding trick with his chair to leap off his last victim's face to evade another guy and land behind him. _["MISTER I'LL~!"]_ He rapidly alternated between fighting two zoo workers with his hands, feet, and chair. _["MAKE A MAN~!"]_ He kicked his chair into one worker's face before grabbing it as it bounce back and smashing the other in the stomach with it. _["OUT OF YOU~!"]_

_["Yo, Red..."]_The scene panned to show a girl with long blond hair and green eyes wearing a peacoat looking at the Camera. The fight could still be heard in the background. _["Why are you filmin' this?"]_

_["Because I wanna know what the INTERNET thinks of Seki and his bullshit."]_ The Camera panned back to the green haired psycho who was now using a guy as a springboard to kick another one in the face. The camera turned again to reveal the Cameraman, a guy with black hair and red glasses with a fedora. _["You see that guy, Internet?"] _The view went back to the chair dude for a second, then back to the cameraman. _["That guy is my best friend. I'm amazed I've lived to see myself turn sixteen."]_

_["AND LO, IT IS DONE!"]_The camera went back to focusing on the shark-toothed psycho, who was casually relaxing in his chair next to a bunch of unconscious guys and swinging some keys on his finger. He stopped the spinning and grabbed them, then stood up and collapsed his chair. _["I AM THE BEST B-TARD EVER!"]_ He proclaimed, spinning on his heels and starting towards the nearby cage. _["An' Imma gon' fight me a grizzleh bear~!"]_

The blonde girl stepped into view of the camera._["Cheers to another year with Donavan Seki Peter Gryphus Cosine, Internet."]_

_["WHY, SEKI, WHYYYY!"]_ screamed the cameraman in frustration as the view went upwards, as if the guy holding it threw his arms up into the air. The video stopped at that point.

There was a long silence as my friends just stared at my laptop. I sighed, then translated what was said between the cameraman and the blond and what the chair dude said with some assistance from Hamuko.

"So yeah." I said. "That really happened, too. I'm amazed that Video's still on the internet."

"Who's the guy who posted it?" asked Kaz. "He's gotta be badass if he can survive having that dude with the hair as his best friend."

I looked at the screen. "Uh, says his youtube account name is 'RedEyesJerkDragon'. And the video description is 'why seki whyyy', just like the last thing he said in the actual video. Most of the comments are on how completely batshit insane that guy is."

"Can't imagine why..." commented Hamuko sarcastically.

* * *

So after that, we went to bed, with the girls heading back to their room. Next morning we got ready and headed to the High school for the Tournament. Suffice to say between Me, Rio, and Hamuko, we completely wrecked these guys' shit. Seriously, we pretty much DESTROIED them. Still, it was all in good fun, even if we did stomp them into the ground. The tournament took up most of the day, though, so it was getting dark by the time we won, which certainly explains why we're staying in town for two nights and heading home tomorrow.

Now it's the whole Tennis Gang(Me, Rio, Hamuko, Kaz and Yuko) in one room again goofing around for the hell of it.

"Hey, isn't there something more appropriate to talk about at times like these?" Yuko asked with an evil grin. I suddenly do not like where this is going.

"Like what?" Hamuko did her head tilt. "Telling scary stories?"

Nevermind, I like where this is going. "Fine with me."

"Same here." chimed in Kaz, bobbing his head back and forth.

"I don't scare easy, so do your worst." smirked Rio. "Plus I do know a lot of stories."

Yuko shifted nervously. "Let's hear 'em... Although the way you say that is already giving me goosebumps..."

_'Pfft, wuss.'_

Don't be a prick, Shade, even if she can't hear you.

_'Shaddup, you.'_

That's my line, asshole.

"Okay, let's go in order." Hamuko suggested. "Rio-chan, you can start."

"Alright." She grinned sinisterly. "This story's about the tunnel we passed through today..."

At that precise moment, the lights went out.

"Eek! A Blackout!"

"KAZ, YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS TO MOVE BEFORE I BREAK YOUR OTHER LEG!"

"Uh, Rio, I'm still sitting over here..." He said weakly. "And Yuko's crushing my arm..."

"ROY!"

"What're you getting mad at me for, Rio? I haven't even moved!"

"Then who's got their face in my chest?"

Seeing as I didn't have an actual pen light or anything, I grabbed a small implement that would kinda look like one and channeled some Hama into it to make the end of it glow. I looked around and Hamuko was fearfully clinging to Rio with her head very close to Rio's boobs.

"Uh, Hamuko?" I asked. "Any reason you're clinging to Rio like that?"

"H-Huh?" Her eyes snapped open, then she quickly let go. "U-Um, sorry Rio-chan. When I get scared, I have a bad habit of suddenly clinging to someone..."

"It's okay, Hamuko-san." she said.

"Imma turn this off now, by the way." I said before stopping the Hama pen light before I burnt up all my mental stamina. I tossed the thing over my shoulder just before the lights came back on. "Huh, must've been a short outage."

"W-Where's the phone?" Yuko looked around the room in a panic.

"Whoa, easy there." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Just chill out, it's nothing to worry about. Random outages happen, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, you're right..." That seemed to get her to calm down. "A-Anyways, let's just forget this happened!"

"I-I agree!" Hamuko added quickly, blushing slightly. Probably embarrassed.

* * *

The rest of the night was noisy, but pretty fun. We hit the sack after the girls went back to their room. Nothing else of note happened on the way back, minus Yukiko seeing us off. My Uncle did too, and he gave me a kinda heavy box to take back with me. When Kaz saw him, he stated that I had the most badass relative ever. I honestly am kinda inclined to agree.

"I'M BACK~!" I sang once I barged in through the front door of the Dorm. "With a big ol' victory under my belt!"

"Welcome back." Mitsuru greeted. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Totally." I replied with a grin. "Got to see my Uncle Kihei because we went to Inaba."

"You have an uncle here in Japan?" Yukari asked with a fair amount of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, he's my mom's older brother." I told her, then hefted the box he gave me. "Gave me this before I got on the train to come back."

"What is it?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, I'll check it out later. We only got like what, three days to get ready for the next Operation?"

"Yeah, it's on the sixth." Stated Akihiko.

"Okay, then we're rollin' out tonight." I said. "You guys make some progress while I was gone?"

There were a few nods. "Yeah, we got up the next Guardian the night you left."

"Alright, coo." I bobbed my head a little. "Imma go drop mah stuff off in mah room now." I started towards the stairs. "See ya in a bit."

* * *

Author Notes - First and Foremost, the Cameo by Saito & Lisa Lusnati and Seki Cosine came with DropletofSour's seal of approval, so shaddup. Secondly, as I posted this I realized I forgot to have a hilarious bit where Roy meets Izanami(the P4 True Ending Final Boss) and tells her to leave him alone and bother some stoic guy with gray hair in a year or so, but I still worked in quick cameos for Yukiko Amagidyne, Chie the Steak Addict, and Kanji 'Renovate Your Ass' Tatsumi so I'm happy. There might be more cameos by the other Inaba Scoobies sometime in the future, but for now, this is what I've got. Sorry if the chapter seems kinda rushed, my brain hasn't been workin' too well today.

Up next, more stuff and the Full Moon!


	26. Burning Belt & Killer Tankbots

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - I don't know the whole story about Hachiko, but I know enough(and that Koro is based on him). Plus it seemed fitting with the whole thing, and the way I interpret Koromaru's Persona is that it Resolved when he fought the Shadow at the shrine. And thanks, DropletofSour liked what I did with that as well. He actually wrote some of the dialog for it, too(namely Seki's B-tard comment and the last things said by Lisa and Saito). Great guy. And Kihei is not actually Daidara's name, it's one I semi-stole from the Fairly English Story(SamJaz, if you ever read this before you go on your mission PLEASE DON'T KILL ME). SamJaz used Kihei as the name for a minor character(who was the nameless NPC in P3 who would let you use the map, if I remember correctly) and I thought of it at random. Daidara is still his name, it's just his last name and it makes no sense for Roy to call his uncle by his last name when he should logically know his first name. I WOULD remake the chapter, but I like it how it is and so I'm just gonna leave it alone. As for Yosuke, the only mention THAT little asshat was going to get was someone offhandedly mentioning they're building a Junes in Inaba. I really, REALLY hate Yosuke.

But enough about that, it's time for the August Full Moon Operation!

* * *

Aigis was happy, I guess, to see me back. I dug into the box my uncle gave me and found a sweet set of clawed gauntlets. Powerful ones, too. They're made of semi-polished grey metal and they fit me freakin' perfectly. Uncle Kihei is DAMN GOOD. That next Wild Card is gonna steamroll their problems.

Anywho, we're headin' to Tartarus now to deal with that guardian. I'm bringin' the Wrecking Crew - Aigis, Junpei, and Shinjiro - to stomp this bugger into dust. It doesn't SEEM to dangerous, it's just this big tower thing made of three stacked heads with a heirophant mask...

"Persona!" BWOOSH "Gah! What the hell?"

...That repells fire, as Junpei just found out by getting an Agilao rebounded into his face. Ya know, it just occured to me that I haven't tried that skill card bomb thing since I blasted that Lovers Shadow out of my brain last month. Let's see if I can still do it.

"Aigis, move!" fwip **BAMF** "Kickass!"

"Roy, how'd you do that?"

"More wild card bullshit. Horribly inefficent, though. Probably not gonna use it much." I told Junpei. "Just focus on cutting this thing in half!"

"CASTOR!" **BANG** WHAM

"Ooooor we could just let Shinjiro do that!"

"Let us commence with an All-Out Attack!"

"You heard the lady!" I shouted, barelling towards the dazed Shadow. "Rip its heads off!"

"I can't miss!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU SON OF A-"

I've missed calling up the familiar dust cloud of violent awesome that characterizes these kinds of attacks. The Skull shaped mushroom cloud of epic victory especially. I flexed my hands and looked over at Aigis.

"Efficiently executed." She said, spinning her gun hands for a second before striking a small pose with her right arm across her chest and holding her left.

_'Damn it Aigis, stop being adorable!'_

I know! It's not fair!

* * *

We ended up reaching the barrier a ways after that, and everyone was still good to go so we just kept running from the highest guardian floor to the barrier till the Dark Hour was almost up. We are so totally ready for this next Shadow.

Woke up kinda early the next morning and got kidnapped and dragged to a flower shop by Yukari after breakfast. God, WHY?

"Hmm... Lillies are too overpowering, and roses aren't really my thing..." Yukari mused as I tried to not die from the overpowering smell of fifty different kinds of fucking flowers invading my nose. Good lord, how can anyone stand this? "Maybe gerberas...?"

I raised an eyebrow. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Huh?" She looked over at me. "Oh, sorry. I'm looking for flowers for my room. I think I'm gonna go with berberas, but which color should I get?"

"The hell is a gerbera?" I asked. I have no idea what the fuck.

"Are you serious?" She raised her own eyebrow at me. "C'mon, you should know this kinda stuff." Says who? "Wouldn't pink be cute?"

She tapped her chin and looked back at the flowers. "Hmm... But gerberas might be a little plain..." Yukari turned back to me. "What other flowers do you think would look nice?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I griped. "I don't even know what your room looks like!" Not true, I could probably venture a guess. Said guess being a pink apocolypse that would make my eyes start to bleed.

"Well, what good are you then?"

"Hey! That's messed up!"

She giggled. "But it's the truth!" She blushed slightly. "Actually, any flowers would be fine if they were from you, Roy..."

My expression flattened. "What."

Her blush faded and she grinned. "Pysch!"

**CRASH**

AW, WHAT

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

Even a former pop idol who clings to me like a parasite would be more fun to hang out with then Yukari is. UGH.

"Oh wow, it's almost noon..." Yukari noted, checking her cellphone. "I'm gonna check out a few more flowers before I go, but you don't have to wait for me."

"Okay bye." I said, spinning on my heels and walking away. Once I was out of her line of sight, I started fucking sprinting. While I could've just bolted at the stand without a word, I'm not entirely THAT evil. Plus I don't need our best healer hating my guts.

* * *

I got back to the dorm not to long after that and Mitsuru was hurriedly coming down the stairs with a slight blush on her face when I walked in. I looked around and Akihiko was reading a sports magazine, Shinjiro just headed into the kitchen, Junpei's playing his PSP on the sofa next to Aigis and Ken's sitting at the table drinking something.

_'Where's Fuuka?'_

I dunno. Maybe in her room?

_'Could be. Wanna see if she wants to hang out?'_

After getting kidnapped by Yukari and having to suffer through the smell of that damn flower shop? **YES.**

I headed up to the third floor and went down the hall to Fuuka's room and knocked on the door.

"Hey Fuuka, you in there?" I asked. I thought I heard something beeping.

"O-Oh!" came a reply between what might have been pained giggling. "R-Roy-san! Hehehe!"

"Fuuka?" I placed my hand on the door. "You okay?"

"H-Help meee-!"

"FUUKA?" I grabbed the doorknob and, thankfully, it was unlocked. I threw the door open and Fuuka was lying on her bed, clutching at some weird pink belt thing around her stomach. "Fuuka?"

"I-It tickles..." She replied weakly through small fits of laughter. "H-Help... I-I... hehehe... C-Can't... breathe..."

I rushed over to her and quickly inspected the belt. I jabbed the power button, but nothing happened. Okay, plan B! I grabbed the front of it and pulled slightly, then summoned one of Shade's claws onto my hand and cut the strap with one finger, quickly pulling the stupid belt off of her and tossing it onto the floor.

"You okay?" I asked as my hand went back to normal.

"Y-Yeah..." She replied breathlessly as she sat up. "Th-Thank you, Roy-kun..."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

I smiled. "You're welcome." I looked over at the belt thing, that was buzzing still, then stomped on it a couple times so it stopped. "Where'd you even get that thing?"

"Oh, um... I ordered it from Tanaka's Show just before we went to Yakushima..." She told me. "It's supposed to be a waist slimmer belt." She sighed. "I tried it back then and it did the same thing"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Then why'd you put it on again?"

She blushed. "Well, I tried tinkering with the mechanisms inside it to make it function like it should..." She sighed again. "I guess it didn't work."

I'm going to throttle Tanaka next time I see him.

_'He might still hang out at the mall. We haven't spoken to him in pretty close to a month, if not longer...'_

Oh yeah. Wonder if he cares... ah well.

I shook my head slightly. "Why'd you buy it in the first place?"

Fuuka started blushing agian. "Um, well... I-I thought I wouldn't look good in my swimsuit compaired to Yukari-san, s-so..."

I laughed a little. "Well if it makes you feel any better, you looked better then she did. By a lot."

Her face turned even redder. "R-Really?" I nodded, and she smiled. "Th-Thank you!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

"You're welcome, Fuuka." I smirked.

* * *

After that, I asked Fuuka if she wanted help destroying that damn belt, and she requested that I, in no uncertain terms, 'burn it in the fires of hell itself'.

That gave me an idea, so now we're standing on the roof of the dorm a distance away from that belt. She's holding an Agi skillcard in her hands.

"What's this?" She asked.

"It's a card with a Persona skill sealed in it." I stated. "My Personas give them to me sometimes. That one is the basic Agi spell."

She looked at the card again. "What do they do?"

"Well, so far I have two uses for them." I began. "One, I can use them to teach the skill on the card to any Persona I have, reguardless of it being possible for them to use said skill or not. Two, I can charge them with a little energy from Shade and turn them into impact-detonated bombs. You probably saw that the last time we were at Tartarus."

Fuuka's eyebrows scrunched together. "But, then why are you giving this to me?"

"Well, I have a theory." I explained. "If those cards have Persona skills in them, it might be possible for other people with Personas to learn skills from them."

"Wh-What?" She asked in shock. "B-But, I don't fight...!"

"I know, but there's another part to that theory." I assured her. "You could just try holding the card and channeling the spell from it without using it up, that way you can burn that stupid belt to cinders yourself." I smiled. "How's that sound?"

Fuuka looked at me, then the card, then the belt, then back at me. "It sounds good."

I grinned. "Alright, give it a shot." I took a step back and switched to Sati for some fireproofing in case things go wrong.

Fuuka held the card in one hand and pointed her other at the belt. A bit of blue mist circled her feet, then a small fireball danced in her outstretched hand before launching outward.

_**FWOOM**_

HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS NOT AN AGI! Agi does not cause a hellish fireball of doom and awesome on impact! And CRAP I need to snuff that out fast! I ran over to where the belt used to be and quickly stamped out the remaining flames, then looked back at Fuuka.

"R-Roy-san..." She asked in wide-eyed shock. "D-Did I...?"

"Just completely incinderate that thing in a blast of firey awesome with Agi?" I finished for her. "Yes. Yes you did."

* * *

Fuuka handed me back the card and asked that we not tell the others about that, mainly because neither of us are too sure how she did that much damage with what should have been a very weak spell. Especially because she's not a frontline combatant.

_'Knowing our luck, that's going to come back to haunt us.'_

Stop stating the obvious.

After that little escapade was taken care of, I headed down to the kitchen to find a random snack in the fridge. Shinjiro was still in there, doing what, I dunno.

"Hey Shinjiro." I greeted as I opened the fridge and knelt down to look through it.

"Hey." He replied. "Grabbin' a snack?"

"Yeah..." I said as dug through the shelves. "Oh come on, I know it's in here... AH HA." I snatched a bag of mini carrots off the bottom shelf, then stood up and shut the door. "There we go."

"Oh so you're the one who keeps eating those..." Commented Shinji as I popped one of the carrots into my mouth.

"Well, yeah..." I replied before eating another. "Carrots are freaking delicous." NOM.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Almost never hear anyone say something like that about vegetables."

I shrugged and nom'd a couple more carrots. "I'm just weird like that."

"Heh, Aki could learn a thing or two from you." Shinjiro smirked, turning enough for me to see he seemed to be making some kind of stew or something. "That idiot doesn't eat right."

I shrugged again as I continued to snack away, leaning on a counter. "Not many people here do, but eh."

"Yeah, they're always eating instant ramen or whatever." He sighed. "I mean, Persona is supposedly 'strength of the heart', so eating what they like is probably a good thing, but they've got to take care of their bodies as well."

"Well, you could always lace all the food in the dorm with crushed vitamin pills." I suggested, pointing at him with the carrot in my hand.

"Hmmm..." Shinjiro rubbed his chin. "I probably could, huh...?"

"I was kidding."

He laughed. "I figured."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

"Hey, do you know Hamuko Arisato?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she's in my class. Why?"

"She was following me around on those two days of school after we got back from Yakushima." He told me. "Whenever I'd turn around, I usually saw her ducking behind something. She always like that?"

Wow. Hamuko has fail stealth skills. "I dunno, never acted that way before around me. Worst I've seen is her freaking out when the lights went out in the Inn durring the Sports Trip."

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow.

"She came into the room me and Kaz were using with two other girls from the Tennis Team to talk to us, don't give me that look."

He shrugged. "Alright..."

* * *

I lounged around the dorm doing nothing of any real note for the rest of the night. Mitsuru was nice enough to let me know Koromaru's doing okay before I went to bed.

Next morning I came downstairs to find Aigis sitting by herself in the lounge.

"Morning." I said casually, hopping over the bar to go into the kitchen. I dug around and found some japanese pop tarts in one of the cupboards, then got me a tall glass of milk before walking back out and sitting next to Aigis.

"Our next Operation is tomorrow evening." She noted as I opened my breakfast. "Are you prepaired?"

I thought for a second. "You know, I'm actually not. I should go see about getting some new 'sonas."

"You are refering to your Wild Card abilities?"

I nodded after taking a bite of pop tart. "Gotta go see about fusing up the biggest Personas I can handle sometime today, seeing as we'll be busy doing prep tomorrow until the Dark Hour hits."

"I will escort you." She said firmly.

I chuckled a little as I took a drink of my milk. "Fine by me."

* * *

So I ended up stopping by the entrance to the Velvet Room in Paulowania Mall later with Aigis tagging along. Fused up some good 'sonas, including this awesome snake-dragon thing called Samael. Others were Kusi Mitama, King Frost, Mothman, and Eligor. Still got Sati and Power around, but re-fused to be more awesome. Aigis was perplexed that I was just standing there, claiming that basicly ten seconds passed before I turned around and said I was ready to go. I told her to not worry about it, and that seemed to convince her.

I cashed in my growing pile of Tartarus gems for a few more fusion spells and some elemental resistance cards. God those are going to be handy. Managed to get just enough to plug all the weaknesses of all the 'sonas I've got on hand. It's freaking great. Sure, I wasn't able to get many more Homonculi, but I haven't needed them a lot and we've found a bunch in Tartarus, so it's all good.

When I got back to the dorm with Aigis, Akihiko was outside tightening his shoelaces and wearing some lightweight training clothes.

"Hey Akihiko." I greeted. "What cha' up too?"

"I was about to go for a jog."

_'I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED.'_

Shut up, Shade.

"I will procceed inside." Aigis stated.

"Alright." I replied as she walked into the dorm. I looked back at Akihiko, who looked at me.

"Is it really okay for her to be out in public?"

I shrugged. "Don't care. If the Chairman don't like it, he can just go whine in a corner."

"Hey, Roy-kun! Sanada-senpai!"

Our attention turned to none other then Hamuko Arisato bounding up to us.

"Hey yourself, Hamuko." I replied. "What's up?"

"Um..." She blushed slightly and rubbed her arm. "I wanted to ask Sanada-senpai a question..."

Akihiko blinked. "Uh, sure. What'd you want to know?"

"D-Does Aragaki-senpai have a girlfriend?"

We both blinked in surprise at that. We glanced at each other, then back at her.

"Not that I know of..." He told Hamuko. "Why?"

"Oh, uh, n-no reason!" She said quickly. "I-I was just wondering! I-I'll see you again sometime! I have to get going!" She bowed, then turned tail and scurried off.

"What..." I began. "Just happened?"

"I barely have any idea..." Akihiko replied. "Then again, it's not the first time it's happened..."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What cha' mean?"

He looked at me. "She came up to me a few times before break and would ask me questions about Shinji. I don't understand why..."

I shrugged. "I have an idea, but I could be wrong. Best not to dwell on it."

"Yeah..." agreed Akihiko. "Hey, you wanna join me?"

I rubbed my chin a little, then shrugged. "Eh, sure. Lemme go put on a different pair of pants and I'll be right back."

"Alright, but hurry up." He grinned a little. "I ain't got all day."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

_'You know, that one seemed kinda weird...'_

Oh, shut up.

* * *

So yeah, went for a jog with Akihiko then chilled at the dorm for the rest of the day. The entirety of the day leading up to the Dark Hour was spent making sure everything was ready while at the same time keeping Ken from catching on to what we were doing.

Now it's the Dark Hour and we're all in the Command Room. Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Shinjiro are sitting on the sofa, Sketchtsuki's in his usual spot, and Junpei, Fuuka, and Yukari are sitting on the other chairs, leaving me and Aigis to stand sorta between Junpei and Sketchtsuki.

"Well, it's a full moon once agian." Thank you, captain obvious.

"Any luck, Yamagishi?" asked Mitsuru.

Fuuka nodded. "Yes, I've located it... and this time, it's not just an ordinary one."

"Now that's more like it..." Akihiko grinned.

"It's by the deserted houses in the northern part of Iwatodai." She reported. "But, there is one thing that's strange... It seems like it's underground... almost ten meters."

"It must be some kind of basement..." Yukari mused.

"According to my records, there is no structure in the area that matches those criteria." stated Aigis. "However, in the past there was an underground facility that was used by the military."

"So it's hiding in a bunker?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, the architectural and geographic data for the area were uploaded into her memory bank." said Sketchtsuki. "Then again, the information hasn't been updated in a decade."

"That is correct."

"Uh, wouldn't that be a good idea?" asked Junpei.

"So how do we take this?" asked Shinjiro. "Just go there and see what's going on?"

"Probably." I told him.

"It seems war's scares may be deeper than we think..." Mitsuru noted grimly. "The situation is still unclear at this time. Therefore, we will wait until we arrive to determine who should be deployed."

Akihiko nodded. "Agreed."

"Understood." came Aigis' responce.

"Alright then!" I clapped my hands together with the Gauntlets Uncle Kihei gave me on. "Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

Interesting place this Shadow, or Shadows if we're really unlucky, picked to hide out, don't cha' think, Shade?

_'Yeah.'_

"The target should be around here..." Fuuka said as we entered the underground complex, passing a pair of huge steel doors.

"Well done..."

I turned around, along with everyone else. Two guys, one wearing only a pair of jeans with a revolver tucked in his belt and a lot of tatoos on his arms, the other with glasses and wearing what looks like a bomb squad jacket and pants holding a briefcase in one hand and a grenade in the other.

"Okay, who invited Revolver Jesus and Captain Emo Grenade Pants?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mr. Emo Explosives twitched in annoyance.

"This is the first time we've met in person." said Revolver Jesus.

"Who are you guys?" Fuuka asked in a panic. "Lucia didn't sense a think 'til now!"

"My name is Takaya." stated RJ before he indicated his pal. "This is Jin. We are known to some as Strega. We've been keeping an eye on you..." His eyes narrowed. "From what we hear, you've undertaken a 'righteous' battle to save the world. But, we've come here tonight to put an end to that dream. You've gained new allies, yet this land still crawls with sin." He grinned. "Tatarus is towering beautifully as always..."

"But, why the hell would you wanna stop US?" demanded Junpei.

"Simple." grunted Jin. "If the Shadows and the Dark Hour disappear, then so will our power." He flashed a sinister grin. "And we can't let that happen, now can we?"

"Power...?" Mitusur stammered. "Don't tell me you're Persona-users as well!"

"I call bullshit on that!" I snapped. "I can't sense a Persona from either of you chucklefucks, so either you're bluffing or you knew about me and somehow have a way to block what I can do!"

I barely even tell what Arcana they are. Revolver Jesus is Fortune, which pisses me off to no end because that's my fucking name, and Jin is Hermit.

"Why don't you use those pretty little heads of yours for a change?" asked Takaya, tilting his head back. "Only a select few weild the power of Persona... and the Dark Hour is a frontier that is ours alone to explore, just like the Tower of Demise..."

"THAT'S your reason?" spat Yukari. "Are you crazy? There's no telling what will happen if we don't do something about the Shadows!"

"What difference does it make...? There will always be disasters, whether they are caused by Shadows or arise from human folly." stated Revolver Jesus. "No one can predict the future, anyway. But that is all beside the point... Suruely you will acknowledge the sense of significance the Dar-"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH." I barked. "This damn space time cluster fuck of bullshit is the reason my parents DIED Ten years ago, and I've grown up being stuck in it! Don't you DARE assume I like ANYTHING about this!"

"But you do, do you not?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "How about the rest of you...? Do you also wish to retur-"

"**EXCUSE ME.**" I snapped, taking out my evoker and pointing it at my skull. "I do believe I told you to shut the fuck up. You'd do well to listen before I whipe the floor with you."

"You've each got your own reason for fighting." growled Jin. "'Justice' is only an excuse..." The Duo started backing up. "And that makes you all hypocrites! So I say, to hell with you!"

Jin quickly turned and kicked something, then looked at us with an evil grin. "Have fun in there."

"Are they stupid?" I asked as the doors slammed closed, putting my evoker away. "They just locked us in with the Shadow rather then, I dunno, ATTACKING us?" I sighed and shook my head. "Akihiko, move."

"Huh?" He looked at me from where he was standing infront of the doors.

"Move." I repeated.

"Okay..." He quickly darted out of the way. I shot forward and drove my hand into the doors, punching a hole in them where they met. I withdrew my hand from the hole, one of Shade's Claws active.

"Hey, idiots." I said, peering through the hole I just made at a dumbfounded Jin and moderately surprised Revolver Jesus. "Next time you want to try stopping us, don't do the stupid thing and LOCK US IN WITH THE SHADOW WE'RE TRYING TO KILL."

I pulled my head away from the hole. "Morons. Alright guys, let's go kill it." I started back to the others, then looked back through the hole to see Jin was a bit closer now. "And if you shove that grenade in here, I will break these god damn doors down and **_BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH THEM_**. Savvy?"

Jin tensed slightly. I smirked.

"Good." I waved at them slightly. "Cheerio."

I moved away from the hole again and stepped away from the doors. "Okay, NOW let's go."

"Dude..." Junpei stammered. "You're insane..."

I looked at him. "It took you till now to notice?"

* * *

Rather then leave anyone behind, I've got the whole SEES crew coming with me to fight this thing. It's already been established that those Strega morons didn't really 'trap' us so much as give us a really big door to blow up on the way out. We eventually came across a small munitions store and decided to have Fuuka project Lucia and wait there. Considering Lucia is completely invulnerable, we don't really have to worry about her TOO much, but it'd probably be best she stayed back and out of harms way. In case of emergency, I gave her a Maragi card to hold onto. If she could disintagrate a cheap piece of shit belt with hellfire from an AGI, I can only imagine what she could do with a multi-target spell.

_{The Target is gaining speed!}_ Fuuka informed us as we continued along. _{It's continuing down the tunnel. Chase after it!}_

We kept going and I finally noticed the treat marks on the ground.

_{The target has stopped! It's waiting in the next area! Be careful!}_

Considering those look like TANK treadmarks, I fucking intend to.

* * *

"WHAT."

_{This explains the tread marks... It's using the tank as armor!}_

"ARMOR NOTHING!" I snapped. "That's a fucking Terran Seige Tank! How the shit did they get their hands on that?"

The Shadow just sat there, the turrent moving lazily back and forth as it seemd to look over us all. For the record, a Seige Tank is a huge-ass heavy duty monstrosity of metal plating that are usually used to blow the shit out of two different types of space aliens(one type with energy shields and the other with really thick skin) and occasionally enemy humans who are in POWER ARMOR when they're not blowing the fuck out of enemy tanks and/or buildings. If there's a few things I can be glad about, it's that Seige Tanks don't have more then one gun and in order to be a bigger threat, they have to change into a completely stationary alternate mode, thus letting us blow the fuck out of it while it can't run away.

Reguardless, this is still gonna suck even if Seige Tanks aren't QUITE as dangerous when you can attack them directly.

_{It's Arcana is Justice...}_ stated Fuuka. _{Wait, it's... Chariot? What the...? Why am I senseing two entities? It doesn't make sense!}_

Oh yeah. Gonna suck. Then again, we're not in a video game so this thing is actually going to have to AIM.

"Okay, plan of attack." I said quickly. "Surround it, but don't cluster together too much. Aigis, you stick with me so we can break the turrent."

As soon as I said that, a pair of fucking chainguns popped out of the front of the tank, and another, smaller set appeared on the side of the main turrent.

"SON OF A BITCH." I spat. "New plan. Akihiko, you work on slamming it with kundas, Mitsuru and Junpei attack from the left and try to break that side's gun and Shinjiro and Yukari attack from the right to smash that one. Aigis is still with me so we can bust up the big gun."

"Understood." Responded the Anti-Shadow Weapon.

"Okay, now MOVE!" I shouted, scrambling away from the others as the tank started firing. The main gun left a crater where we were standing while the machine guns went to work trying to pick us off.

Aigis responded with her own machine gun fingers firing, but did little real damage. The big gun was swaying erratically, trying to track us as we darted around. It would sometimes lock on someone, only for somebody else to attack and draw its attention. Yukari's Tornado Arrows proved to be a big help and she managed to blast off BOTH the machine guns on the front of it.

I lept onto the back of the tank with Aigis as Mitsuru started freezing it in place rapidly while Shinjiro and Junpei moved in to smash the treads. We reached the base of the main gun and I noticed something. There's no Arcana mask on the tank. Why is there no Arcana Mask on the tank? Then the tank lurched a little as it tried to break out of the ice, snapping me from my thoughts. I'll worry about that later!

"Aigis, open fire!"

"Understood!" She replied, holding onto the tank with one hand while shooting the weaker spot at the base of the main gun.

Then a hatch opened on the tank and something jumped out before the tank shuddered violently and started rising into the air. Aigis and I got the fuck off that thing quickly and regrouped with the others as we found out what was going on.

There was a small, probably almost six feet tall, robot with wings stolen from Model HX from MegaMan ZX flying in the air. It looked almost like a small-scale gundam, if not for the Justice Arcana mask with two glowing yellow eyes it had for a face sticking out from under its hybrid Pilot/Knight helmet. In its hand was one of the guns that popped out of the side of the tank's main gun, which turned out to be some kinda rifle thing.

The tank, on the other hand, turned out to be a god damn Transformer and morphed into a grey version of that blue Ride Armor you can find in Vanashing Gungaroo's stage in MegaMan X7(worst MegaMan X game ever, by the way) with a blue robot sitting in the control seat where the 'head' would be. It had a Chariot Arcana mask for a face very visible under its helmet as well.

"Well that explains why Fuuka could sense two Arcana..." I griped. "There's two god damn Shadows!"

**=Thanatos Detected=** stated a hollow monotone from the Arcana Justice.

_{What the...? It can talk!}_

**-Primary Objective: Destroy Thanatos-** The Chariot's Ride Armor shifted into a combative stance, pointing the former tank gun(now a fucking Arm Cannon) at us. **-Commencing Attack-**

"MOVE!" I shouted, rushing out of the way as the semi-giant mech started firing. The Justice started firing from its rifle as well, scattering us further. Normally I'd be wondering what the hell Thanatos is, but being not dead is higher on my list of priorities right now.

"How the hell do we kill these things?" barked Shinjiro as Castor surged forward at the Chariot, only to get swatted aside by its ride armor. "GAH!"

"Aim for one of the knees!" I yelled, dodging a blast from Justice. "Alternatively try to get the Chariot out of the Ride Armor!"

"Polydeuces!" BANG Akihiko's Persona appeared and dropped a Zionga on the Chariot. "How're we supposed to do that?"

"You and Shinjiro can do Fusion Spells, right?" **_DODGE THE DOOM CANNON_** "Like that thing you two did against the Arcana Lovers?"

Akihiko sidesteped a flying charge from the Justice. "Yeah, but how do we get it to hold still?"

"Mitsuru-senpai! Try freezing its legs in place!" Hey, Yukari had a good idea!

"I summon thee!" **BANG**

Ice began crawling up the legs of the Chariot's mech, causing it to divert its attention.

"AKI! NOW!"

**BANG BANG**

Castor surged forward with Polydeuces, lightning crackling around them before ramming dead center into the body of the Ride Armor.

**-Heavy Damage sustained- **The Chariot struggled to keep its armor standing with the massive hole that the Bash Brothers just put in it. **-Armor Functionality at twenty-one percent-**

"Akihiko, frying the insides of it!"

"Persona!" **BANG** _ZRRTCH_

**-Armor Functionality dropping-** The large mech dropped to one knee. **-Changing Tactics-**

The Chariot lept out of the control seat and landed on the ground. It's about the same height as the Justice, but looks like something out of MegaMan Legends combined with those robot people from Phantasy Star Universe. It's also got its own rifle attached to the side of its backpack thing.

**=Tactics changed=** The Arcana Justice flew back near the Chariot. **=Primary Target: Unchanged=**

**-Understood- **The Chariot suddenly floated slightly off the ground, small glowing orbs under its feet. **-Commencing destruction-**

You have got to be shitting me.

Chariot surged in my direction, basicly skating on those orbs. It channeled most of its momentum into a kick that I barely managed to duck under, only to get hit by its other leg and sent skidding along the ground.

"ROY!"

Fucking ow... That hurt... "I'll be fine... maybe..."

**-Target still operable-** I rolled out from under an axe kick from the Chariot, then scrambled to my feet and darted away as the Shadow removed its foot from the small crater it made.

"PERSONA!" I barked, spinning around mid-step to call forth Eligor for a Twin Shot. The Chariot recoiled from the attack, then charged towards me. I managed to grab its leg this time, then swing it around and slam it into the ground. I let go and backed away, checking on the others.

Yukari, Akihiko and Mitsuru were alternating between launching, respectively, Tornado Arrows, Lighning Bolts and Ice Spears at the Justice, who was flitting around in the air firing at them whenever it got the chance. Shinjiro was waiting impatiently for them to actually hit it so he could try smashing its face in.

I didn't see Aigis or Junpei anywhere.

"Initiating Summon Sequence!" "Persona!" **BANG**

Scratch that, Palladion and Hermes just rammed the Chariot at the same time.

"Hey, Junpei, go tell Shinjiro to get over and help me with this guy!" I called out. "You help the others with the flying one!"

He looked at me. "You sure?" I nodded. "Alright!"

I returned my focus to the Shadow to see Aigis trading blows with it. Huh. Didn't know Aigis knew hand-to-hand. Now's not the time to gawk, though!

"Aigis, watch out!" I yelled, charging forward and punching the Chariot in the side of the head. It staggered back, then rushed at us. We ended up in a short exchange of trading blows until Castor blindsided the Shadow and body checked it into a wall.

"Nice timing." I commented, rubbing my jaw a little from where the Shadow kicked me. I took a quick look at the others and they were still giving the Justice hell. They weren't actually hitting it very much as the damn thing was crazy agile, but it wasn't being given enough time to fucking aim properly.

**-Obstructions: Palladion and Castor-** The Chariot staggered out of the wall, a few cracks in its armor. **-Solution: destroy obstructions-**

"Like hell!" Shinjiro barked, his evoker ready. "CASTOR!"

The Persona rode forward and rammed into the Shadow again, only to be caught in its hands. Sparks came from the Chariot's frame as it strained against Castor's power. Aigis immediately summoned Palladion to ram the Chariot, and I called forth Eligor to assist as well. The combined impact of three Personas hitting it at once proved too much and the Chariot fell to the ground, sparking violently before evaporating into black mist, leaving a few scraps of metal.

**=Arcana Chariot Status: Destroyed=** The Justice Shadow stated, drawing my attention along with everyone else's. **=Enguaging Sky Fall Protocal=**

"The hell is it doing?" Akihiko asked as the Shadow flew up higher. Then it opened up several small panels with what I'm pretty sure are small missile launchers all over its body.

**=Firing=**

Energy beams, missiles, and machine gun fire filled the air, forcing everyone into cover. Me and Aigis have less to worry about due to bullets counting as Pierce damage, which her Persona resists as does Eligor, but I still don't like the idea of getting shot much so I'm ducking behind what's left of the ride armor(which fell apart into chunks of tank once Chariot died) with her and Shinjiro.

"I think we pissed it off." commented Shinjiro dryly. "Any ideas?"

I peeked up at the spam attacking asshole flying in the air. "Just one." Persona switch, aaaand! "Samael!" **BANG**

The god of poison spiraled out of my head and fired a ball of white-purple energy at the Arcana Justice, knocking it back slightly and causing it to stop filling the air with death. Yay Megido.

"GET IT!"

Shots rang out as everyone's Personas burst into existance and bum-rushed the Justice. Between Fire, Ice, Electricity, and Wind flying at it along with three Personas trying to ram it, the Shadow was unable to dodge everything and its wing got damaged, sending it crashing to the ground. It slowly staggered upright just in time for Yukari to put a tornado arrow through its head.

**=System... Fai-ailure...=** The shadow fell to its knees, then dropped to the ground as it melted into nothingness, save for a few bits of metal.

I looked at Yukari.

"That was easy!" She proclaimed, smiling and throwing me a thumbs up.

Shut up, Yukari.

* * *

Author Notes - Cookie to anyone who spots the Persona 3 FTW shout outs in this chapter and the previous one. And now for a serious question for any/all people who read this: I intend to do a Persona 4 story set in the Fool Name Fortune universe, and I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to have the Protaganist be Souji Seta or an Original Character. If I stick with Souji, like I want to, I'm kinda afraid it'll end up looking like a differently written version of Face Every Shadow and I really don't want that. However, it just feels weird to imagine the events of P4 with someone other then Souji around because of how much I like the Souji x Naoto pairing(stop looking at me like that). So, I'm going to ask any/all people who read to PLEASE reply to this question in a Review. If you want to actually review the chapter, cool, if not, just answer the question and I'll call it good.


	27. I'm Sorry

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - Jin is going to get about forty bajillion nicknames from Roy, a different one basicly every time Roy talks about him.

**Jranz **- It's more a dillema of how to approach it. Like AFNF, the P4 Story will be in the POV of the Protaganist and if I use Souji(the true P4 Protag), I'm kind of worried people will think I'm just rewriting Face Every Shadow. And as for Yosuke, it's his stupid plans that piss me off most about him and his general attitude. He's a near-complete asshole and his bullshit frequently causes Souji and Kanji(once he's in the group) to suffer with him even when, like in the case of the Crossdressing Pagent, neither of them had any hand in what happened and are suffering anyways. Speaking of that pagent, I have PLANS for that when I get to it in the P4 Story.

**Abyss of Essence **- Thanks for the review! I felt Junpei was a better Social Link then Kenji, and my problem with Yukari is her near-bipolar personality. She's nice one second, then a massive BITCH the next. The Answer just made it far more obvious. And no, Mitsuru hasn't gone with Roy when he gets new Personas. At most she just knows he has a means of getting new ones, but not how he does it. And there's really nothing special about Hamuko. She's just there as a Cameo, and the physics of my brain demand that if she exists in the events of P3, she falls in love with Shinjiro. Simple as that, really. As for the P4 Story, the reason I ask is because, like I've said before, I'm paranoid people will think I'm just rewriting Face Every Shadow. But, maybe I should stop worry about that and just go with Souji. I can't really justify replacing him with an OC anyways. And I don't understand how people can pair Kanji & Naoto basicly at all either, so I guess we're even.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - No, I'm trying to work out a plan for the P4 Story BEFORE I finish this one so I have some semblance of an idea of what to do. I'm litterally making everything up in this story as I go along. And I kinda doubt Minatos would waste time beating me up over borrowing the name from SamJaz's story, but you never know so let's hope he doesn't. D:

And Now, On with the chapter!

* * *

Once that was all said and done and Shinjiro finished breaking the doors down so we could get out, Mitsuru was talking on one of her crazy Kirijo Dark Hour-operable phone thingies with Sketchtsuki about what had happened as we headed back to the dorm. We were all tired as hell so we just staggered up to our rooms and went to bed.

I got up kinda early the next morning and decided to confiscate the TV in the lounge to play some X8 after I got some breakfast. Fucking Optic Sunflower's stage is killing the shit out of me becuase of the DAMN SPIKES IN THAT ONE SPOT NEAR THE END AUGH.

"Good Morning, Roy-san."

I glanced up to see Aigis walking over to sit next to me. She's wearing a blue shirt and a pair of jeans along with a cream-colored lightweight jacket, and damn does she look cute.

_'Easy big guy, she's a robot.'_

Shut up, cute is cute. "Mornin' Aigis. GAH, DAMN IT."

"What is the matter?" She asked, sitting down.

I sighed and indicated the game. "This level. It enrages me. At least this spot does, anyways..." Maybe... "HA! Stupidly placed spike trap didn't get me that time!" Yesss I'm almost to the boss now finally.

Aigis looked at the screen. "You are having difficulty traversing the area?"

"A little." I replied as Optic Sunflower appeared in his boss room. "But I got through the level finally."

_["So What? You sayin' I should join you? Tough luck, chump!"]_

"The one holding the firearm sounds remarkably similar to you, Roy-san."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know." The little pre-fight banter's over so now I'm jumping around shooting grenades at this stupid psycho robotic garden weed with a kill sat. "I stopped really paying it much mind a long time ago. It's not entirely impossible for two people to sound alike."

"I comprehend."

I suddenly realised something, which caused me to pause the game. "Wait, you're not asking me what I'm doing?"

"You are playing a what is called a 'Video Game'." Aigis stated. "Junpei-san explained the concept to the best of his ability."

That's actually surprising. "Really?" I thought for a second, then smirked. I just had an idea.

* * *

"No no, see, if you use the Thunder Dancer or Plasma Gun on the generator in this room, it turns the lights back on. Makes getting through the next section a bit simpler."

Aigis nodded at my instructions and began firing lightning bolts at the generator in Dark Mantis' stage. Yeah, I'm teaching her how to play X8. On a new game on Hard Mode. And she's kicking ass. Seriously, she's methodical in her approach to the levels and is managing to get the loot in them in one run if at all possible. Probably helps that she's, ya know, a robot.

"Roy-san, what is the difference between the two factions of machines in this story?"

She also finds the entire concept behind Reploids completely facinating. I don't blame her, they're basicly like her excpet with laser guns built into their arms instead of a Persona. In addition to teaching her how to play, I've been giving her a history lesson on the Megaman X series when she asks about stuff.

_'We're friends with the world's, currently, only human-level sentient monster fighting robot and are teaching her how to play video games.'_

This basicly makes my life completely AWESOME as far as I'm concerned. Bonus points for Aigis being adorable.

...I now have a sudden craving for something sweet. "'scuse me for a second, Aigis. I'm going to go get a snack."

"Understood." She nodded, not taking her eyes off the screen as I stood up and walked over to the kitchen. I require a donut or some other delicious baked confection of deliciousness.

* * *

Unfortunetly, there were none to be found. Defeated, I trudged out of the kitchen.

"Aw, man..." I sighed, slumping down back on the sofa next to Aigis. "There's no donuts in the kitchen..."

She paused the game and looked at me. "What are donuts?"

I looked at her, but before I could say anything, Yukari happened.

"OKAY!" She blurted out loudly. "Roy, you're coming with me."

I turned my head to look at her. "What, why?"

"I'm going shopping and I need someone to carry my bags!"

**_'DAMN IT YUKARI.'_**

Thank you, Shade.

* * *

Fortunetly for me, most of the stores at the Mall didn't have the things Yukari wanted so I was spared from having to be a god damn pack mule. Sadly, Aigis didn't tag along so I'm stuck hanging out with my least favorite person at the dorm.

"So, whaddya want to do now?" She asked semi-hesitantly as we sat on a bench near the fountain. I look like one disgruntled motherfucker right now, that's for sure. "Karaoke?"

Before I could answer, a little boy stepped into our line of sight.

"Mommy!" He called out. "Where are you! M-M-M-Mommy!"

Yukari stood up and walked over to him. "Hey, what's wrong?" She knelt down slightly. "Are you lost?"

"M-Mommy told me to wait here..." he sobbed. "And... and... she gave me money, but..." He sniffled. "B-But, she's not coming..."

I saw Yukari flinch. Angrily.

"Hey, don't cry..." She put her hand on his shoulder. "See, you're okay. We'll stay right here with you, alright?"

"O-Okay..." sniffled the kid, tears running down his face.

I glanced over at the Police station, then stood up and tapped Yukari on the shoulder. She looked at me, then I pointed at the station with my thumb. She got the hint.

"Hey, look!" Yukari turned back to the little boy and motioned to the station. "We can get help over there! C'mon, follow me. The policeman will know what to do." She smiled. "He'll find your mom, so don't worry."

The kid nodded, then I followed as Yukari led him to the station.

* * *

"Phew, what a relief..." she sighed as we walked out of the station a few minutes later. "I'm glad he was able to contact his parents." She frowned. "What were they thinking, leaving that poor kid all alone?" She shuddered slightly. Angry Yukari is angry. "It makes me so angry!" Her expression fell. "But... I guess my mom's no different."

Eh? "What makes you say that?"

She looked at me curiously. "You really wanna know?" I nodded, and she sighed, then led me back over to a bench where we sat down.

"Well, the thing is my mom and I aren't very close... if you asked me what kind of parent she is, I'd say, 'A tarrible one.'" She sighed again. "She wasn't always like that, though... But after what happened to Dad, she totally changed..." Her gaze fell to her feet. "She's had more boyfriends than I can count, and she's even living with one guy..." She shook her head quickly. "Honestly, I'd rather not know. I won't wanna talk about it anymore."

I winced. Damn.

"Keep this between you and me, Roy, okay?" Yukari looked at me pleadingly. "You're the only one I've told."

"Alright, I will."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

"I don't really feel like karaoke anymore..." She stood up. "Let's go back to the dorm."

* * *

The trip back to the dorm was silent. When we got there, Aigis had apparently managed to curbstomp her way through the rest of X8 and was now playing Deadlocked with Junpei. It makes me smile inside to see my two best friends bonding like that.

I stuck around to talk with them and stuff until we all went to bed. Or at least I tried to.

"Hey Pharos." I hadn't fallen asleep by the time the Dark Hour hit.

"How are you?" he asked, sitting at the end of my bed.

"I'm okay." I replied, sitting up. "You?"

"About the same. And I remembered something else..." Oh? "The end won't be brought about by anyone in particular... It's coming because there are many people who wish for it... as if it was destined from the start." He frowned. "But, doesn't that seem like a strange thing to wish for?"

"It does, but why worry about it?" I asked him. "Unless you know something about the end..."

Pharos shook his head. "Sorry, no. I don't fully understand the coming of the end." He stood up. "Well, enough about that for now. There's something else I wanted to tell you today."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"

"Soon, three poisonous flowers will bloom... One in your own garden, and three in the garden opposite yours." He said. "I don't know whether or not this has anything to do with the end, but you should be careful." He vanished and reappeared near the door. "I'll come again if I find out anything useful." Pharos smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"

I smiled back. "Not just that, but yeah."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana._

"Anywho, g'night, Pharos..." I laid back down and rolled over.

"Goodnight."

* * *

Next morning Mitsuru told me to drop by the command room later that day for something. However, it occured to me that I never got myself a god damn donut yesturday and Akihiko asked me if I wanted to go somewhere to get somethin' to eat, so now we're heading to that Sweet Shop I went to a while back with Andre and Hamuko.

"Why are we here?" He asked as we stood outside the shop in question.

"I want a god damn donut."

"But... A-Are guys even allowed to go in there...?"

I looked at Akihiko. "Why wouldn't guys be allowed to go in?"

"Well, uh..." He stammered. "It's not the kind of place guys would go..."

I raised an eyebrow. "So? It's just a shop that sells cake and cookies and donuts and stuff. What's the big deal?"

"Oh, Akihiko-senpai!" "Roy-kun!"

Oh god damn it **WHY**

Kaede and her friend who were pestering us outside the Beef Bowl place a month or two back came bounding up to us.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so jazzed to run into you here again!" Kaede chirped happily as her friend, who's Arcana is Hermit, was trying to get me to check her out before she grinned.

"Oh, right, I didn't tell you..." Hermit girl scooted up next to me. "I asked Roy-kun to bring him along so we could have a double date~!"

"Huh?" Akihiko looked at me. "You did?"

"FUCK NO." I barked, finally remembering I can Garu Shout, only now it's a Garula Shout(tm), and startling the three people around me. I pointed at Hermit. "You are _NOT_ my girlfriend, I did _NOT _invite Akihiko to along with me for a double date, and fuck, I don't even know your god damn name!" I leaned in a little to look her in the eyes with a killing glare. "Do not make up shit about me. If I hear rumor going around the school that I have a girlfriend when classes start up again, there will be hell to pay." I narrowed my eyes. "Understand?"

Both Hermit and Kaede nodded dumbly.

"Good." I stood upright. "Now if you'll excuse me..." My expression suddenly became very happy. "Imma go get me a donut." I started into the shop. "C'mon Akihiko."

"Uh, right... excuse us..."

* * *

"You were a real jerk back there, you know." Akihiko told me once I had my delicous baked good and was eating it. He'd gotten himself a donut as well, but his was considerably more plain then mine.

"I know." I replied, swallowing the bite I had in my mouth. "But I really hate people lying about me, especially right infront of me."

"I can understand that, but you could have been nicer about it."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what? It's kind of hard to get your point across with a straight face, especially when you want people to stop doing something."

Akihiko looked down slightly. "Maybe you're right..."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

I shrugged. "It all depends on your point of view."

"Yeah, it does."

* * *

After we had our donuts, Akihiko wanted to know if I wanted to get some pancakes. I was all for that because pancakes are also delicious. And Akihiko likes them. That aside, we eventually went back to the dorm and just goofed around until it was time for the big meeting.

"Does this mean we have a new mission?" Aigis asked.

"I dunno." I replied with a shrug.

"The alarm's not ringin', so maybe not..." Junpei commented as we entered the command room with Yukari and Fuuka a few steps behind us. Mitsuru, Shinjiro and Akihiko were in the room waiting for us with Koromaru sitting next to them.

"Huh?"

"Koro-chan!"

Yukari and Fuuka pushed past us and ran over to the dog as me, Aigis, and Junpei casually approached.

Koro let out a bark to greet them. Neat collar he's got now, but what's with the shirt he's wearing?

"Are you okay?" asked Fuuka as she knelt down to examine him closer. "Where'd you get this collar?"

"That collar is design to help control his Persona." Mitsuru stated. "In other words, it's an Evoker for dogs."

Yukari looked up Mitsuru. "Wait, does that mean he'll be going into battle?"

"It was a surprise for me as well, but according to the tests, it's quite possible." she replied. "In fact, it was the Chairman's suggestion. We'll be looking after him here in the dorm."

Fuuka looked at Koromaru. "Is that okay with you, Koro-chan?"

He barked. _(Your friend helped protect the shrine, and you saved my life. I wish to return the favor.)_

"He says 'I'll return the favor.'" Aigis stated.

"I got that." I told her. "You heard it, too?"

The others looked at me in confusion.

"Heard what?" asked Shinjiro.

"Koromaru." I replied.

I got a bunch of weird looks.

"Okay..." I rubbed my forehead. Shade, are you responcible for this?

_'Only slightly. Koromaru seems to be able to use his Persona to talk, but from the look of things, only you and Aigis can hear it.'_

Ah, okay. I sighed. "Apparently Koromaru can use his Persona to talk, but I'm one of two people who can hear it. Shade helps apparently."

Yukari shook her head, then knelt down next to Koro. "Still, you're one loyal dog."

Koro barked happily as Yukari scratched behind his ears.

"Hey, make yourself at home." Junpei grinned. "The more the merrier, right? Who cares if you're a dog? Alright, I'll take him for a walk. It's summer break, after all!"

"Yes, it is." Mitsuru commented with a nod. "Enjoy your vacation while you can; summer classes start next week. I'll see to it that you graduate."

Junpei seemed shocked, then he chuckled. "Hey, good one Senpai! You almost had me there."

"Oh, it's no joke." she stated. "We'll be taking intensive courses, and I've already applied for all of us. I know how difficult it's been balancing school and our late night excursions. You haven't had much time to study, and I apologize for that. That's why the Chairman agrees that this is a good idea." Mitsuru glanced at Yukari and Fuuka. "I thought I told Takeba and Yamagishi..."

"Are you serious?" asked me and Junpei in unison.

"This is the first I've heard of it!" whined my baseball hat-clad best friend.

Fuuka blushed slightly. "Um, sorry... I forgot to mention it..."

"But why the hell do I have to go?" I asked. "I've got the best grades in the class!"

"And I intend to make sure you can keep it up." Mitsuru told me with a flat glare.

"I don't even study that much, though!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well, imagine how much better you could do if you applied yourself."

I sighed. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No." Mitsuru replied instantly. "And if you try to do so..." Why is the air getting colder? "I'll execute you."

Oh god, Shinjiro and Akihiko just had all color drain from their faces. I'm afraid now.

* * *

Oh my gawd, Summer School fucking _SUUUUUUUUUCKED_. Well, actually it wasn't all that bad. Edogawa was teaching us about Tarot at one point durring the week, though thankfully he didn't joke about my name when he got to the Fortune Arcana(and neither did anyone else). Also, it was apparently Shinjiro's birthday on the Eleventh, so Akihiko insisted we have a small party. It was pretty fun, but Shinjiro didn't seem that into it.

On Sunday I found out that apparently there's a Summer Festival when Chihiro called me up to ask if I wanted to go with her, but I turned the invitation down. She seemed a little disappointed. I headed downstairs afterwards and found Mitsuru frustratedly rubbing her head as she sat in the lounge. Aigis was sitting nearby on a sofa.

"Hey." I greeted. "What's the matter?"

"The Summer Festival is occuring tonight at Naganaki Shrine." Aigis reported. "I will consider this a special security assignment and escort Mitsuru-san there."

"As you can see, Fortune, no matter what I say, she doesn't listen." Mitsuru commented, looking at me with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please help me out here."

"Negative. Operation Summer Festival cannot be aborted."

Mitsuru sighed. "She really wants to go..."

"I could take her." I offered. "I don't have plans, and I thought about heading there by myself later anyways." I looked at Aigis. "That okay with you?"

She seemed to debate the matter internally for a moment. "That is acceptable."

I smiled at Mitsuru. "Well there you go."

"Thank you, Fortune." She smiled back. "I don't like crowded venues."

"Heh, no problem." I told her. "It's in the afternoon, right?" Mitsuru nodded. "Alright, cool." I turned to Aigis. "What time did you want to head over?"

* * *

I ended up waiting for Aigis in the lounge of the dorm while Mitsuru helped her get ready. Not entirely sure what's going on.

"I apologize for making you wait."

"It's not big de-" I turned around and my sentance was stopped dead when I saw Aigis. She's wearing a blue yukata with white flowers on it and a yellow sash, and DAMN does she look good in it. "Wow..."

"Are you alright?" Aigis took a step towards me. "The temperature of your face is rising. Are you overheating?"

Oh hell, I'm blushing. "N-No, I'm fine." I shook my head quickly. "Anyways, if you're ready, let's get going."

She nodded, then followed me out of the dorm. I swear, she still seems oddly familiar to me...

* * *

Wow, lots of people here. Don't remember the last Summer Festival I ever went to before the accident.

"Hey, Aigis, stay close, okay? Don't want you getting lost."

"Understood." She moved a little closer. "At first glance, this is a peaceful gathering... but behind it..."

I laughed a little. "There's nothing behind it. It's just a lot of people having fun."

Aigis looked at me with her adorable head tilt, then turned her attention to something else. "...This smell..."

"Hmm?" I sniffed the air slightly. "Oh, that's from the takoyaki stand." I looked at her. "Would you like to try some?" She nodded. "Alright then." We headed over to the stand. "One please."

"Comin' right up." Replied the cook, dropping a bunch of the snacks into a small box before handing it to me after I set the money down for it. "Enjoy."

"Thanks." I handed one of the takoyaki to Aigis. "Can you even eat these?"

She nodded. "I am equiped with a small drive to convert organic matter into energy." She has a fake stomach? That's actually surprising, though I suppose it's was a 'in case of prolonged human interaction' sorta thing. Probably can't eat too much.

Aigis popped the food into her mouth and began chewing slowly, her eyes widening slightly. "Wow... Extremely high-temperature jucies spurted out from inside."

I smirked and shook my head lightly before I ate one myself. Good stuff, but then again being Japanese and living in Seattle(or at least in a town near it) gave me a liking for seafood. I think. Hard to say, but seafood good for Roy and I don't question it.

The two of us walked around the stalls, chowin' down. Looked around at stuff.

"What is that?" Aigis asked as I tossed the empty carton into a trash can. I looked over and she was pointing at a bunch of masks.

"That's called a 'mask.'" I explained. "You can put them on to hide your face while also appearing to have a different one for fun." I scratched my neck. "It's kinda hard to explain, really..."

She did her adorable head tilt. "You try to be someone else by wearing a different face...?"

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "You're pretty quick to figure stuff out, Aigis. Sketchtsuki might finally back off about not letting you leave the dorm at this rate." I really don't get what the big deal is. Seriously.

Aigis smiled. "I am looking forward to that."

"Hey there, you two!" Our attention was drawn to a guy running a raffle-type game next to the mask stand. "Would you like to play Lucky Draw? All you do is pick a ball! It's easy! And, everyone's a winner!"

I shrugged, then moved over to the box he held out. "Sure, why not?"

I paid, then stuck my hand in and stirred them around before pulling one out. Lucky number 7.

"Whoa, Congratulations!" The attendant was surprised. "Man, you've got some luck to win a prize like that at our booth, pal!" He set the box down and pulled out what I won. "Here's your prize, one Jack Frost doll!"

"Sweet!" I could probably give this as a gift to somebody. Aigis decided to give it a shot, and turned around once she got her prize.

"I won a water pistol." She stated, holding up a bright blue water gun. "Between this and my onboard firearms, which is more effective in battle against the Shadows?"

"Your onboard guns are better." I told her. "A water gun like that isn't a real weapon, it's a toy. All it does is shoot small bursts of water."

"Then it is a means to practice combat without putting others in danger?" She asked.

I rubbed my chin. "Not really, but I supposed you could do that..."

Aigis bobbed her head a little. "I comprehend."

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked as we walked away from the Lucky Draw booth. "It's getting kind of late, so maybe we should head back to the dorm."

She shook her head. "Not yet. The mystery of the shooting game has not yet been solved."

I raised an eyebrow. "Mystery?"

"I would like to know how the items did not budge at all, even when struck precisely at their balancing points."

I looked over at the shooting game. "That is a good question... Let's go find out, then head back."

* * *

Turns out that the reason was nobody was awesome like I am. Then again, I know how to use a gun so that's probably why. I ended up winning another Jack Frost doll and gave it to Aigis.

"I do not understand..." She said to me as we walked back to the dorm. "Why did you give this item to me when you won it?"

I turned my head slightly to look at her. "It's a gift."

She did her head tilt. "A gift?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to give you something else to have, seeing as I doubt there's very much in your room outside of any tech stuff you need and your clothes." I smiled. "And friends give each other gifts from time to time, sometimes for no reason at all."

Aigis stopped walking. "I am your friend?"

"Of course you are." I told her, stopping as well. "Why wouldn't you be?"

She looked away. "We have not been aquainted for very long..."

"So?" I raised an eyebrow. "Time doesn't matter. It's how you spend it that does."

She looked back at me and smiled. "I comprehend. I am glad you think of me in such a way."

Wait... this conversation seems familiar...

_'It's Aigis!'_

Huh? What're you talking about, Shade?

_'That blond girl from those dreams you have sometimes! It's Aigis!'_

I felt my eyes widen slightly. You sure?

_'Positive! Perfect recall, remember?'_

So... that means...

"Roy-san?" Aigis was a bit closer and slightly in my face, snapping me from my thoughts. "Are you alright? You stopped responding."

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." I replied. I felt my face heat up and my chest tighten slightly.

She tilted her head. "Your heart rate is elevated and the temperature of your face is rising. Are you feeling ill?"

I shook my head. "N-No, I'm really okay." I took a step back and rubbed my neck. "Just a little cold is all. Let's hurry back."

Aigis nodded once. "Understood."

I sighed to myself as I resumed walking with Aigis. I silently studdied her with my eyes, and Shade's right. She does look like that girl. But I wonder...

"Hey, Aigis?"

She looked at me. "Yes?"

"Say 'I'm sorry.'"

She tilted her head.

"Just humor me." I told her with a smile. "You didn't really do anything wrong."

Aigis bobbed her head, then straightened up a little before looking at me with a slightly sorrowful expression.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

Author Notes - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN. What's goin' on with Roy and Aigis? Find out in chapter 28! I'd have actually had this chapter up on the 8th, which for those of you who've played the Journey mode in P3: FES might know as the day you can start the Aeon Social Link with Aigis. And seeing as I tried to keep this chapter mostly Aigis-centric(because Aigis is love), I felt it would've been appropriate, but sadly writer's block hit me and derailed that idea. Shouldn't happen too much now, so whatever.


	28. Revelation of a Dream and a Hermit

Pre-chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Abyss of Essance** - Well, if you do try your own P3 Story, I'd advise against adding an OC while keeping Minato and/or Hamuko(The FeMC) around unless you handle it sorta like I did or do what Orange Aeon(haven't read it, but I've heard it's good) did and have the OC be the Perspective character as a party member rather then the protaganist. And in my oppinion, Kanji's sexual orientation is whatever happens to be funnier at any given moment in time. And if you like the Yukari bashing, you might both like and dislike this chapter. It all depends. And yes, Fangirls are lame and stupid and need to die in a fire.

**eggimiester** - Seriously? You think MY shitty story is better then the Fairly English Story? ...Wow, man. That's actually amazing. I seriously do not think I'm doing that good. And honestly, I don't pull a lot of all nighters, I just have no fucking life and spend basicly my entire day writing when I'm not job hunting. D: As for "Urusai", it's japanese for "Shut up" and I felt like using it to add evidence that Roy is pissed when he's not even translating what he's saying. Plus 'Urusai' is more fun to shout loudly. And for Yukari, well, Roy's working on it. You'll see what I mean once you read this chapter. And thanks for the compliment! My patheticly tiny ego and low self-estiem need the boost desperately. D:

**Jranz** - Okay, I put my hands up, you've found the pairing I've litterally foreshadowed all of ONCE before the actual character appeared in the story. Don't believe me? Go comb the earlier chapters of the story to find the one, teeny tiny off-hand mention I've made. And no, there will be none of that 'kinky robo sex' crap like you're probably imagining, I don't care HOW weird the Persona series makes you act. Nor do I want to know, because I might get nightmares thinking about it. And yeah, while Casey W does update Face Every Shadow really slowly, I'm just paranoid that I'll come up with similar sounding stuff, though if you look at how much I update compaired to him, I'd probably get farther in the story then he is after a month or so.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - Yeah, Roy has a thing for Aigis. It doesn't come up much in this chapter, but it will quite a bit in future chapters because there's some other stuff going on. And "Damn it Yukari!" is almost a borderline catch phrase for Roy at this point. Others being "Fate delt you a Wild Card"(that I need to find ways to use a lot more), "Shut up, Shade.", and "Wait, what?"

And now, on with the chapter!

* * *

It's her. It's really her.

"Roy-san?"

Her looks... her voice... this is... I didn't think it was possible... I had no idea she was real...

"Roy-san?"

But, then why was I dreaming about her? Did I meet her before Yakushima? But, that shouldn't be possible...

"Roy-san!"

Shade, man, what do I do?

_'How am I supposed to know? I'm just as confused as you are!'_

Well how I am I supposed to face Ai- "OW, FUCK!" I jerked back slightly and rubbed my side. "Aigis, what the hell!"

"You were being unresponsive." She replied, lowering her hand from where she jabbed me in the kidney with two fingers. "So I used a means to get your attention."

"Where the hell did you learn that?"

"I observed Yukari-san using a similar technique to get Junpei-san's attention."

Fucking Yukari.

* * *

The rest of the walk back to the dorm was, for me at least, insanely awkward. I mean, off and on for the last ten goddamn years Aigis has been invading my dreams. They always seem simple enough(for dreams, anyways) until right near the end, when she suddenly looks at me sadly and tells me she's sorry before something hits me and I wake up. I went to bed early once we actually got back, but I wasn't tired. I just wanted to be alone so I could think.

_'So, we just found out that, for some reason, we've been dreaming about Aigis, who we only met at Yakushima about a month ago, at least since we were six for reasons we don't know just yet.'_

Pretty much. Although...

_'What?'_

Well, call it a hunch, but I've been in the Dark Hour since age six, which is back when it first started happening. So that means, technically speaking, I've had the potential for a Persona for the same amount of time, right?

_'Makes sense...'_

So, maybe part of that came with semi-prophetic dreaming or something. I mean, we don't know EVERYTHING about Personas and Shadows, and if YOU'VE been in my head that long, it's entirely possible, isn't it?

_'True... but if that's the case, then why only Aigis? Why not somebody else as well, like Junpei, Shinjiro, or Mitsuru?'_

That's a good question... Argh, this is making my brain hurt!

_'Why not sleep on it? Might be able to think better in the morning.'_

Hrm... You're probably right. Sleep might do me some good...

_'Erright. G'night, then.'_

Heh. Night Shade.

* * *

"Roy-san, wait up!"

I turned around at the school gate to see Aigis running towards me. She still makes the uniform look good, if you ask me.

"Gah, sorry Aigis..." I winced as she caught up. "I kinda spaced out..."

"I noticed." She stated bluntly. "You really ought to pay more attention."

I sighed. "I know, I know..." I started grumbling under my breath. "Geez, it's like you're my mother or something..."

Aigis looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Come again?"

Oh shit "N-Nothing! I was just commenting on how good you look this morning!"

She smiled smugly. "That's what I thought."

Suddenly, the bell rang.

"Oh no, we're going to be late!" Aigis grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me into the building. "C'mon, slowpoke! Mitsuru-senpai will never let us hear the end of it if we're late to class!"

"Okay, okay, just quit pulling like that!" I griped as we got to the shoe lockers. "I swear, it's like you're going to tear my arm off." I shook my head and sighed as I changed shoes. "But whatever." I looked at Aigis and smiled. "It just proves you care."

She wasn't looking at me. In fact, she had her back to me.

"Aigis?" I put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Roy-san...?" She turned her head slightly, but I still couldn't see her face.

"What's wrong?"

Aigis turned around to look at me. Her expression was full of sorrow, and she gently placed a hand on my cheek.

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

I jerked upright in my bed with a sharp gasp. I looked around. I'm in the dorm... what time is it...? Eight forty-two in the morning... Date... August Seventeenth...

_'Well, that clinches it.'_

Huh?

_'Aigis and the dream girl being the same person. That was definitely her in the dream.'_

You're right... And damn, she looks so adorable in the Gekkoukan Uniform...

_'I know, huh? And you two seemed pretty close in that dream. Think you were dating?'_

Oh man, don't start making fun of me. It's going to be awkward enough dealing with this as it is, but that's just going to make it worse...

_'Oh, don't be such a baby. It can't be too bad. Besides, it certainly explains why she seemed so damn familiar.'_

True... ugh, I really want to not think about this right now...

_'Then don't. Just relax. You're worrying too much, man.'_

Oh, shut up...

_'Well if it's going to bother you, look up premonitions on the internet.'_

...That might not be a bad idea...

* * *

I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

"Well fuck." I griped aloud. Didn't find anything remotely helpful. Just mentioning how it's related to dreams and that I should've kept a notepad next to my bed and written everything down when I woke up.

_'Which is kind of bizarre, but eh.'_

Wait... Maybe it has something to do with Pharos.

_'How?'_

Well, think about it. He gave us that prophecy thing about poisonous flowers last time we saw him, he's been warning us about the Arcana Shadows, he claimed he's always with me, AND he's the DEATH Social Link. I haven't seen people with Death as their Arcana yet except for him.

_'All true, but what are you saying? Our Social Link with him is making us psychic?'_

Probably not, but the only authorities on the Wild Card we know are Igor and Elizabeth. But it's possible this is just something else Personas can do. I mean, look at Fuuka and her brain link thing Lucia can do.

_{Excuse me, Roy-san?}_

"WAAAAAAH!" I jerked around in surprise and fell off my chair, hitting the ground with a loud thud. "Owww..."

_{R-Roy-san! Are you alright?}_

"HOW ARE YOU IN MY BRAIN, FUUKA?"

_{I've been working on channeling Lucia's abilities outside of the Dark Hour.}_ She told me. _{I'm sorry, did I startle you?}_

"A little..." I replied, sitting up on the floor. "But I'll be fine. Just... warn me or something before you try doing that again..."

_'I could handle that.'_

_{H-Huh? Who are you?}_

_'Wait, you can hear me? Huh. Ah well. This is Shade. And I know, I sound like Roy, just a bit... weird. You'll probably get used to it eventually.'_

_{Um... Okay...}_

"Yeah, sorry..." I apologized. "So, uh, what'd you need, Fuuka?"

_{Oh, um, I was testing to see if I could connect with people...}_

I raised an eyebrow. "And you decided to go for me first, why?"

_{I was scared what might happen if I tried to talk to Junpei-kun...}_ she relented nervously. _{Akihiko-senpai doesn't like being bothered while he's training, Shinjiro-senpai scares me a little still...}_

"What about Yukari or Mitsuru?"

_{They're sitting down here next to me, so it wouldn't be a good test...}_

"Aigis or Koromaru?"

_{They're here as well.}_

"Ah." I sighed. "Well, whatever. I'm gonna get dressed now..."

* * *

Thankfully Fuuka didn't try to brain chat with me while I was in the shower or anything. I was kind of bored, but didn't want to stay in so I inexplicably decided to grab my laptop and head out to Changall Cafe. They got WiFi there anyways. Wore my bucket hat and a loose grey shirt(no jacket or anything else of the like) as well as my shades because it was too damn hot out and the sun's bright as hell. I'm still surprised that basicly the only time I've seen it rain here was during exams. It's freaking weird.

Anywho, I'm chilling at the Cafe on my Laptop playin' Innocent Sin. I signed in and got a message about how they're closing the game down. Man, that sucks! Granted, I haven't played in like, two months but still! It's a fun game!

When I actually got into the game world, Maya was waiting for me.

[...u got that message from teh admins, rite tatsuya? T_T] Her character faced away from me. [it said their cancelling innocent sin ...think its for real?]

[I hope not.] I told her. [I mean yeah, this game's kinda dead-ish, but it's still fun! And, uh, sorry I haven't been online for a while. Stuff happened.]

[lol its ok tatsu] she replied. [but it still sux... they prolly jus want to save some munny -_-] Her character suddenly got up in the face of mine. [tatsuya... do u think we'll still be able to see each other? T_T]

I smirked to myself. [Definitely.]

[yeah... we can meet each other in different ways I guess] she looked away. [maybe there will e another MMO or we could hook up irl, but still =S]

Or we could wait like, a month and I'll see you at school.

Her character suddenly shook her head rapidly. [NO! we have to stop wasting our tiem!] She struck a fierce pose. [maya's not goin quietly =/ i'll beat them to the punch!]

Oh lord... [What are you planning?]

[...oh, dun worry tatsu. i won't do ne thing dangerous]

[You better not, or I'll make sure you never get to eat cake ever again!]

[NUUU I LUV CAKE ;n;] her character started pouting. Oh, that was fun.

[Hahahaha, I'm kidding. =P]

She huffed. [tatsu, yur mean ;P]

[I know, I'm sorry.] My character did a groveling emote. [But what's your plan?]

[im gonna send teh admins a log of the convos we've been havin' together here] she told me. [if they knwo this game is important to us, maybe they'll reconsider =D] Her character giggled. [even tho tatsuya's just some lonely kid and maya likes to b**ch too much... ;) that shouldn't matter!1] She used an embarrassed emote. [(to tell u the truth, i kinda hope ur a handsome guy tho...) don't worry, maya will protect u! we'll always be partners, k?]

[DAMN STRAIGHT!] My guy struck a triumphant pose.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hermit Arcana._

[alrite! i'm gonna go write my email w/ our convo log!] she really likes using that excited emote. [don't mess w/ maya & friends or u'll regret it! MwahAHaHhaHa!]

[Erright. I'm gonna goof around on here for a while then, so just log back in when you're done.] I said. [Erright?]

[k! next time we'll celebrate our victory! bai tatsu!]

* * *

About an hour of me just goofing around and mindlessly slaughtering foolish enemies in this MMO for the hell of it, not even caring about EXP and such, I saw Maya log back in, then suddenly I got teleported somewhere else. Maya's character was staring off into the distance.

[i saw you online when i logged in so i brought u here w/ magic. sry ^^;]

My dude shrugged. [It's cool.]

[...i should apologize]

Eh? [Apologize about what?]

[about, uh... all that stuff i said? o_O;;] Her character turned around. [remember how i said i would send our chat log to the admins before? i dun think i will...]

[Why not?] I asked.

Her character absently kicked at the ground. [i read over our chat log and i didn't like waht i saw =/] she crossed her arms. [what kind fo person plays an MMO jus to bitch about coworkers? -_- u shouldn't have had to put up w/ me doin that. im sry m(_ _)m] HA! that is an awesome text emote. [sum teacher i am, rite? =/ i know it'll look like i'm chickening out an stuff, but... im thinkin bout qutting the MMO today i... dun think i'll c u again T_T]

I heard the sound of someone sniffling loudly from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and Ms. Toriumi was sitting a few tables away from me. Oh wow. I looked back at my screen.

[I'll miss you, Maya.]

[i'll totally miss u more *^_^*]

[Actually, I just thought of something...] My guy rubbed his chin. [Are you at home right now?]

[umm... no, im at a cafe. y?]

[Which cafe?]

Her character tilted her head. [teh one in Paulowania Mall.]

[Whoa, seriously? I'm there right now as well!]

I heard Ms. Toriumi almost choke on the coffee she was drinking. [srsly? o_O]

[Yeah! Look around. I'm wearing a black hat.] I smirked a little.

[omg i see a guy with a hat. is that u?]

[Tell me if he rubs his neck.] I hit enter, then rubbed my neck a little.

[he did!]

[Yep, that's me.] I smirked to myself. [Why don't you come sit with me so we can talk face to face?]

[um... k... omg im so nervous now...] Her character fidgeted a bit.

I chuckled quietly to myself. [Relax, it'll be fine. Hell, tell ya what. I'll get ya' a big ol' slice of cake.]

[o_o srsly?]

[srsly.]

[k! i'll be rite there!] she signed off after that, then I heard a chair get pushed back, then footsteps.

"Um, excuse me... Tatsuya?"

I reached up and pulled my sunglasses off, then set them down next to my laptop before turning around and taking off my hat, looking at Ms. Toriumi with a big grin on my face. "Hi Maya."

"H-HUH?" Her eyes widened in shock and she damn near dropped her laptop. "R-Roy-kun? B-But, how..." Her face turned bright red. "No, no no no... this is bad... NO!"

Before I could say anything else, Ms. Toriumi turned tail and practically RAN out of the cafe. Well, _**SHIT**_. I quickly shut down my laptop, slapped down some money to pay for my drink, then bolted out after her while trying to put on my hat and sunglasses with one hand while carrying my computer in the other.

* * *

I eventually found her sitting on a bench with her hands on her head. I think she's crying. I sighed, then slowly walked over.

"Toriumi-sensei?"

She looked up at me in surprise, tears spilling from her reddened eyes.

_'Damn...'_

This is not the time for commentary, Shade. I hesitantly took another step towards her. "Are you okay?"

Ms. Toriumi looked away from me, crying quietly. "Why...?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why what?"

"Why did you have to be Tatsuya!" She exclaimed, breaking down into sobs. "It... It's not fair!"

"What's so unfair about it?" I asked, slowly sitting on the space on the bench next to her. This is probably not that smart of a move, but I have no idea what could happen at this point. "I mean, from my perspective, it's a good thing."

"But it's not!" She wailed, her sobbing intensifying.

Aw shit, I just made it worse, fuck, what do I do, **WHAT DO I DO?**

_'Ask her why you idiot!'_

That works! "Why is it not a good thing?"

"Be-Because... Tatsu... was so nice..." She struggled to speak between sobs. "A-And h-h-he always listened to me... and you..." She sobbed louder. "You're all m-mysterious... and with wh-what happened to your parents... I thought I... I..." Her shoulders shuddered and she fell into another bout of loud sobbing. "Why...?"

"Why not?"

Ms. Toriumi looked at me in confusion.

"Why can't I be Tatsuya?" I asked. "Outside of that one conversation we had at the station a few months ago, the only interactions we had were at school. How do you know that it wouldn't have been the same if we'd talked in person rather then over the internet?"

She silently sobbed, staring at me dumbly for a few seconds before suddenly clinging to me and crying into my shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, I just sat there while she sobbed. Eventually they descended into small hiccups, and her grip on me loosened.

"I..." She began weakly, slowly pushing herself off of me and wiping tears from her eyes. "I don't know... what would have happened..."

"Exactly." I told her, smiling slightly.

"But... I... was so sure that Tatsu and you were different people..." Ms. Toriumi continued. "To find out you're the same... I'm so confused..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Confused how?"

"I... liked you both..." She confessed, her face turning red. "But..."

I get it now. "But you liked me for different reasons then you did Tatsu." She nodded. "And while you had a sort of crush on me, your feelings for Tatsu were... deeper." Her blush darkened. "So now you're upset because the kid you had a crush on... is the same guy you're falling in love with..."

**CRASH**

Oh god damn it, why now?

_I am thou... and thou art I..._

Wait, WHAT?

_The bond thou has nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Hermit Arcana hath been set free._

No! No it has not! What the fuck is wrong with you!

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Arahabaki, the ultimate form of the Hermit Arcana... This bond you have forged will never be broken..._

**GOD DAMN IT YUKARI!**

_'What's she got to do with this?'_

I don't know but it makes me feel better.

I sighed loudly, then something occurred to me. I turned to face my teacher. "What if you're not in love with Tatsuya?"

Ms. Toriumi sniffled and looked at me curiously.

"What if you're in love with what Tatsu represents to you?" I asked, leaning back slightly and crossing my arms. "That caring guy who is supportive of you, and all that?"

"H-Huh?" She blinked in confusion. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"You saw how you acted in the chat logs, right?" She nodded. "You didn't like that, but despite that, me, as Tatsu, still talked to you despite all your complaining and venting your problems in my direction." I should mention I have absolutely no fucking idea where the hell I'm going with any of this. I'm just ranting in a way that sounds philosophical and hoping it makes her feel better. "You were drawn to how Tatsu stuck around when basicly anyone else would have just written you off as some random sad-sack bitching and moaning about their life on the internet and abandoned you. It takes a really good person to stick around."

Her eyes widened slightly. I think she just figured it out herself.

I smiled, then pulled her into a hug. "That's what you were attracted to. Not Roy Fortune, the American Transfer Student. Not Tatsuya, the Innocent Sin Online player. Just the idea of knowing someone cared."

Ms. Toriumi broke down sobbing again, though not as loudly. When she finally cried herself out, she pulled away and wiped her eyes, then looked at me with a wry smile.

"You know, Tatsu..." She began. "You still owe me a slice of cake."

I laughed. "I'll bring you two when school starts back up."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why two?"

I smirked. "One for the one I promised to get you before you knew I was Tatsuya, and another to apologize for not telling you who I was sooner."

Ms. Toriumi giggled slightly. "I'll hold you to that."

My smirk turned into a grin. "I wouldn't expect anything less, Maya."

**CRASH**

The fuck?

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

...Huh. Maybe I should try being philosophic more often.

* * *

I parted ways with Ms. Toriumi after that, feeling oddly good about myself. When I got back to the dorm, Koromaru was the only one in the lounge, chowing down on a bowl of food. Judging by the light in the kitchen, whoever got it for him is getting a snack.

"Hey Koro." I greeted, walking over to him and kneeling down. "Havin' a snack?"

He looked up at me for a second and gave a short bark, then went back to eating.

I smirked, then scratched him behind the ears a little. I flopped down on the couch, simply relaxing and listening to Koromaru munching away contently. After a little while, apparently finished eating and decided to sit near me and laze about a little. I looked over the arm of the sofa at him.

"Hey." I said. "You wanna go do somethin' tonight?"

Koro looked up at me and tilted his head.

"Somebody explained everything to you, right?"

He barked in affirmation.

"Well, I'm kinda bored, so maybe we'll hit Tartarus tonight. Sound good?"

He barked again, then gave a low growl and started scratching himself with his hind leg.

"Huh?" Hi Fuuka. Almost made it ninja but I heard you coming. "Does Koro-chan have some fleas?"

I looked at him. "You itchy?"

He did a sort of nod.

"Hmm..." I looked at Fuuka. "We got a brush for him or something?"

"Oh, yeah, I bought one the other day." she replied. "I'll go get it!"

I turned my attention back to Koromaru as Fuuka ran off. "Would you like us to brush your fur, Koro?"

He barked and wagged his tail excitedly. _(That'd be great!)_

I smirked. "Cool."

* * *

Fuuka came back a couple minutes later with the brush, and I sat down on the carpet and ran it through Koromaru's fur.

"That feel good?" I asked with a smirk.

He barked happily, and Fuuka giggled.

"Koro-chan seems happy."

"That he does." I commented, patting his head. His fur's a bit softer now.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

"How's your stomach?" I asked him. "Still hurt a little?"

He whimpered softly. I winced.

"Sorry." I scratched him behind the ears. "Does it hurt to lie down?"

Koromaru shook his head.

"That's good." I patted his head again, then looked at Fuuka. "Hey, can you let everyone know we're headin' to Tartarus tonight?"

She nodded. "Okay."

* * *

We geared up and headed down to Tartarus just before the Dark Hour hit. I wanted to see what Koromaru can do, so I brought him up along with Yukari and Mitsuru. And HOO BOY, is he fucking awesome.

Koromaru is better at killing shit with fire then even me. I'm dead serious. Bonus points? Cerberus also learns Mudo skills and can counter physicals, effectively making him a more offensively focused alternative to Junpei except with, as we found out, Sukukaja instead of Rakukaja and no physical skills, though he still fights using a dagger in his mouth.

"ARROOO!"

Plus seeing a cute little albino Shiba Inu summon fucking Cerberus, Guardian of the Entrance to the Underworld, to destroy his foes with the power of darkness is metal on basicly every level **_EVER_**. Interestingly, Koromaru is also completely immune to Fire and Darkness skills, which is surprising because so far only Persona's I can use have displayed the ability to completely nullify elements. Must have something to do with his Persona changing.

Fuck these stupid Champion Knight shadows, though. Bastards basicly require me to have a Wind-slinging Persona on-hand at all times or to bring Yukari along in case they show up.

Next group of Tartarus Guardians we found are these things Fuuka called Magical Magi. Really uncreative name, but I didn't care much because Koromaru busted out Maragilao and knocked them down for us to slaughter. He is seriously the best dog ever.

Rather then just calling it quits after that fight, I went back down to the entrance and swapped out my team for Aigis, Akihiko, and Junpei for a quick run up to the Guardian floor we just cleared out to keep everybody up to snuff.

Once that was over, we headed back to the dorm to get some rest. The next day was spent lazing around doing nothing, though Junpei mentioned Kenji called to ask if he wanted to go to the film festival at the movie theater. Figure I might check that out with some people.

And I got my wish the next morning when I got a call from Andre.

"Hello, this is Bebe." He likes to just lapse randomly into both Japanese and English around me. He's also still not used to me calling him Andre. I should hang out with him more because he's awesome. "Would you like to go to the movies today? They've got a French Film marathon going!"

"Sure thing." I replied. "Lemme just get my hat and I'll meet you at the theater."

"Great! See you there!" He seems happy.

_'I thought French people were pussies.'_

Nah, that's just the British stereotype because of World War Two. In actuality, the lower on the political food chain a given French person is, the more badass they are. It's speculated that the average French hobo could fight Chuck Norris and win.

_'Dude that is awesome.'_

I know, right?

* * *

So I hung out at the movie theater with Andre. Surprisingly, the movies were simply subtitled in Japanese, which was pretty cool. Andre was happy to hear his native language after being in Japan for so long. But something seemed to be bothering him.

Time to find out what. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"You can tell something's wrong?" He looked at me in surprise for a second, then his expression fell. "Well... you see... last night..." he shuddered slightly. "My dear aunt... was taken away by the angels..."

Taken away by... Oh no... "WHAT?"

Andre nodded slowly. "She... was the reason I was able to come to Japan..." He wiped a tear from his eye. "And now, she's gone... she helped me so much, and... I couldn't do anything for her..."

"Hey, come on man, cheer up..." I put a hand on his shoulder. "I mean, she helped you come to this country, right? Do you really think you needed to do more for her except enjoy yourself?"

"H-Huh?" He looked at me in confusion.

"Think about it." I tapped the side of my head. "You were telling her about how much fun you're having here, right?" He nodded. "And did she sound happy when you told her about it?" He nodded again. "So there you go! Sometimes with family, the only thing you need to do for them is be happy." I smirked. "Your aunt was probably the same way. So c'mon, smile and be happy for her."

Andre sniffled, then wiped another tear from his eye. "Arigato, Roy-sama..."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

I feel good about myself again. "Anytime, Andre."

* * *

The next day was dull and boring, but I got an e-mail from Ms. Toriumi. It was a screencap of our Innocent Sin characters goofing off with the text "Thank you, Tatsu" added onto it. I loaded it onto my cell and set it as my wallpaper for the hell of it. The next day was even more boring, so I spent it working on my summer homework that I near completely forgot about.

Day after that, Kaz called me up to go see a war movie Marathon. I went along with it, and his leg's doing a lot better now. On the 23rd Chihiro called to ask if I wanted to go see some movies with her, and I went for that as well. She actually asked about Maiko, and I told her that she moved away after everything got worked out. Of course she picked today, which was tear-jerker day, so regardless she left the theater with eyes red from crying. I got a bit choked up myself and Shade felt like being a prick about it. Bastard.

The 24th seemed normal-ish enough, but nobody called so I opted to see if anyone at the dorm wanted to go see some movies today. First person I found was Yukari, looking kinda bummed out and sitting at the table.

You know, it occurs to me that I'm kind of a jerk to her basicly all the time, but she's still a person. And I honestly have no idea how well she's really taking the whole thing with her dad and the Dark Hour, plus her whole issue with her mom. Probably wouldn't kill me to maybe just talk to her a little, would it?

_'Might sting like a bitch, though.'_

Oh shut up.

I walked over to the table and sat down across from her. "Mornin' Yukari."

"Hi Roy..." she sighed, her elbows resting on the table as she held her face in both hands.

"What's the matter?"

She sighed again. "My friend texted me a few minutes ago about bailing on our plans to go to the Film Festival. Must have been a big emergency, because she was so excited about going..." Her face lit up and she sat upright. "Hey, you want to go with me instead?"

"Uh, sure..." Oh god what have I gotten myself into...

"Great!" Yukari chirped happily, springing to her feet. "I hope you're into the stuff they're showing today, cause we'll be seeing a lot of it!"

* * *

So I went to the movies with Yukari. Well, more like she partly dragged me along. But, the movies were freaking awesome. Yukari got some respect points for agreeing with that analysis. After that, she wanted to go grab a bite to eat so we headed back to the Iwatodai station.

Once we got off the train, Yukari's cell started ringing.

"Hold on, I've got a phone call..." She pulled it out of her pocket, and her expression darkened. "Oh..." She sighed, then answered the call.

"...Hello. Yeah..." She raised an eyebrow. "What? ...So? ...Get to the point, okay?" It's hard to understand what's going on when you're only hearing half the conversation.

"...HUH?" Yukari's eyes snapped wide open. Hooo boy. "It's not funny! ...WHAT! How do you think that would make Dad feel?"

Ah. Talking to her Mom.

She sighed again. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Her expression hardened. "Just don't call me again!" She growled in frustration as she nearly slammed her cellphone closed and jammed it back into her pocket.

"You okay, Yukari?" I asked. I know she's not. There is no way she can be okay and have that expression.

"Huh?" She looked at me. "Oh, yeah... I'm fine." She smiled. "Thanks for asking." She looked away. "You know who I was on the phone with, right...?" I nodded. "Yeah, it was her. She says she wants to get remarried... I don't really care if she wants to get married again, but I can't stand how she's been living..." Yukari shook her head angrily. "Running away from life, jumping from guy to guy..." She shuddered in rage. "It's just not fair to my dad!"

She shook her head again and took a few quick, deep breaths. "Sorry, I'm okay now..."

I shrugged. "It's okay."

"Thanks." Yukari smiled at me again when she said that. "I'll never be like her. I'll never be that weak... Running away to forget your problems is the worst thing you can do." A determined fire burned in her eyes. "I've decided that I'm gonna live on my own. I'll show her that I can be happy that way."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

You know, thinking about it now, but Yukari's main issue isn't that she's a bitch. Far from it, she's just really, really confused.

_'The hell are you on about all of a sudden?'_

Her Arcana, Lovers. Apart from usually having some romantic inclinations, it also represents choices, like, in her case, if she should keep believing in her dad despite knowing he caused the Dark Hour or to forgive Mitsuru for not telling us the full story sooner.

_'So, what, she's a bitch because she has no idea what to do?'_

Pretty much.

_'That's... oddly deep.'_

Yeah, well, this is what you get when I spend my free time looking up philosophy over the course of the last three days and already have a lot of Tarot stuff in my brain.

"Hey, Roy?"

"Yeah, Yukari?"

"Thank you." She smiled. "For some reason, I feel like I can tell you anything..." She sighed and shook her head. "Anyways, let's head back now. We can just get something to eat at the dorm."

I shrugged. "Erright."

* * *

The trip back to the dorm was quiet, and I ended up heading back out after I got a snack. I haven't seen Tanaka in a while, and seeing as I've been on a role with not being a manipulative prick lately, I'm going to leave the tape recorder at home.

"Well, hello there." He greeted when I found him at the mall. "Haven't seen you around in a while."

I shrugged. "Been busy. You?"

"Much the same." He stated. "Recently, my alumni association organized a class reunion."

"Really? Sounds fun."

"It was!" boasted Tanaka. "I had a splendid time! I still laugh thinking about it, but I doubt you'd understand how I feel, since you're still young, but... A high school reunion is a very important event."

"Well, yeah." I commented. "Get to see people you haven't seen in years, maybe even friends you haven't talked to in a while."

"True, but it's also the perfect opportunity to show everyone else how pathetic their lives turned out!" Wow, way to be a complete ASS. "For example, I ran into a classmate who used to make fun of me for only having rice in my bento..." Huh? "...and another fellow who once strung my holey socks on the flagpole." Damn. "Now, they both look at me with envy." Tanaka grinned. "Their annual salary doesn't even compare to my monthly income! My business is on a roll, and my private life is also very satisfying."

I really didn't need to know that last thing, man. REALLY. And stop sizing me up!

"Let me take you under my wing, as our exclusive model. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." He told me. "Don't think I would extend this offer to just anyone."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

Tanaka is a weird guy. Really weird.

"By the way, remember that 40,000 yen you gave me?" he asked. "I think we can call it even..."

I laughed. "Dude, I stopped giving a shit a while ago. I've already made it back doing part-time work."

"Ah, that why you've been so busy the past few months?"

I nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

Tanaka chuckled. "And even if you haven't, my time is worth at least a hundred thousand yen per hour! Think of all the free advice I've given you!"

_'What advice? All he's been doing is gloating about how much of a corrupt businessman he is.'_

That's a good question. May have to ask him some other time.

* * *

I went to bed once I got back to the dorm. Next morning after I was all dressed and stuff, I found Ken sitting by himself at the lounge on the second floor. Finding this odd, I went over to talk to him.

"Hey Ken." I said as I sat down on a nearby chair. Damn, this kid's got one hell of a serious face going. "What's on your mind?"

"Hmm?" He looked at me. "Oh, hello Roy-san." He frowned. "Have you ever felt like there was something you needed to do, but couldn't figure out what it was?"

I crossed my arms. "A few times, actually." I looked at him. "Why? You having the same problem?"

"I was..." Ken confessed, then his expression became very intense. "But now, I know what it is and I'm ready to do it. My mind is made up."

I smirked. "Well, that's good. Just don't go overboard, okay? Think it over so you don't end up doing something stupid, okay?"

He smiled as well. "Alright, I will."

"Now then, if you'll excuse me..." I began, standing back up. "I'm going to go raid the refrigerator." I walked towards the stairs, absently waving back at Ken. "Catch ya later."

"Have a good day, Roy-san!"

I frowned once I started down the hall on the first floor. Something is seriously up with that kid, and I'm going to go nuts if I can't figure out what it is.

* * *

Author Notes - DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Is Roy figuring out Ken's issue before October 4th goes down? Who knows! And it's basicly official at this point that Roy's love interest is Aigis. I'll get more into that next chapter because I spent time with other stuff in this one. Cookie to whoever figures out why the Tower Social Link came up. And NO, the Reaper is not disguised as Ms. Toriumi or any other nearby human. He's stuck in the Dark Hour, but he's still mostly connected to the Tower Social Link. You'll find out what the deal with that is eventually. Mwehehehe.


	29. Movies, Motives, and a Robot at school

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

Astrih Konnash - I wasn't even trying to be punny with that, actually, It was just Roy saying goodnight to the voice in his head. And the Tower Link is special, and you'll find out why near the end of it. Possibly durring the Max Rank Event for it.

Jranz - Like I said in the PM I sent you, I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it man. Sorry. As for the P4:FES panicking, I'm just weird like that. I don't know how people will react, because there can be some real jerks on the internet. But eh. And yeah, Yukari is a bitch, but Roy's going to at least TRY to be nice to her. As for Aigis, well, you'll have to wait and see with that.

Fanfic Reader Guy - Yes, the Tower Link will make sense in due time. And you've got a point there, Souji or Rusei(The OC Progat I'm considering still) won't have to deal with demons and such like P4:FES Souji does. They'll have their own crazy problems to suffer through.

Abyss of Essence - Okay, my advice is to imagine a few of the scenes you have planned once with your version of Minato, then again with the OC you plan on using and see what you like better. That's basicly what I'm doing with the P4 Story at this point. And yeah, Yukari needs to shut her bitch hole a lot more. =/ And yes, Roy remembers dreaming about Aigis now, but not that she sealed Death in his head. And thanks, the Toriumi scene took a LONG time to write so I'm glad you like it. Andre's was a bit simpler, but it wasn't quite as heavy as Toriumi's. And yeah, Tanaka is still Tanaka. Wouldn't be the same if he wasn't.

Also, Fun fact! This Chapter, not counting the Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner and Author Notes, is 8318 words, making it longer then the previous record holder, Chapter 23(which was 8313 words WITH Review Answers and Author Notes). Enjoy!

* * *

Akihiko looked bored when I found him hanging out in the lounge, so I asked if he wanted to head to the movies today. And he did. The theme today? Wire-fu action films. Akihiko, being the fitness nut that he is, of course complained how there were no training montages in the film.

We took another trip to Tartarus that night, and, determined to get over the awkwardness that has somewhat built up between myself and Aigis, took her up along with Yukari and Mitsuru. About halfway to the next Guardian, Mitsuru spoke up suddenly.

"You know, apart from Fortune, the battle group today is all female." She pointed out.

"Oh yeah, huh?" I honestly hadn't noticed. "I just picked three people and didn't really put much thought into it this time." Not true, I picked them all on purpose. Aigis because I'm going to cure myself of my inability to talk to her, Yukari because she's our best healer, and Mitsuru because she's really, really powerful. I just hadn't noticed it was all girls because I was too busy worrying about how to act around Aigis.

"I see…" Aigis commented. "So this is the fabled 'Chickfest'… A party attended by only females."

My jaw tried to fall off of my face into the center of the Earth. Yukari had a similar expression on her face.

"A-Aigis!" Yukari sputtered. "Where did you learn that?"

"Junpei-san taught me that word." She replied. "He also said that the suffix '-fest' can be applied to many different words, depending on the occasion."

Yukari groaned. "That idiot, teaching Aigis things she doesn't need to know…"

I am totally going to give him a high five later. That just made my day.

* * *

A bunch more floors later, and we were up against the Guardian. Dancer-class, which means it's this weird shadow that looks like two headless ballroom dancers holding a rapier in one hand while a heart shaped balloon with the Lovers Arcana mask on it floats where their heads should be.

And by fuck can this thing hit HARD. It's dancing around throwing around wind magic that puts Yukari to shame. I'm actually kinda thankful I went on a fusion rampage in the Velvet Room before we went up and got Orobas, who completely nullifies Wind attacks or else I'd be dead right now. Yukari isn't as lucky, she just resists Wind, so each of us is acting as a shield to someone else while we fight this thing off. Mitsuru is hiding behind Yukari, throwing Bufulas at the Shadow when she's not healing, and Aigis is sticking with me, firing shots at the Shadow over my shoulders.

"Damn it, this thing is seriously starting to PISS ME OFF!" I bellowed as a furious blast of wind harmlessly impacted me. "It's taking forever to kill!"

Not like I can really do anything about it, mind you, I'm sort of stuck with Orobas so I don't DIE HORRIBLY, and I can't get in close for fear of the Shadow wrecking Aigis.

_'Trick time.'_

Eh?

_'Point your Evoker at the Shadow and pull the trigger.'_

The hell is that gonna do?

_'Just do it.'_

Alright, fine. I drew my Evoker and aimed at the Shadow's chest.

"Fortune, what are yo-"

**BLAM**

"WHOA!" I blinked in surprise as a blast of dark red energy impacted the shadow, knocking it over. I looked at my evoker and it had a glowing red attachment over top of it, making it look more akin to a laser pistol from Phantasy Star Universe. "Holy shit!"

_'I take it you like that one. Finally got it to work for ya. Don't abuse it, though, shit eats up a lot of SP.'_

The hell is SP?

_'Spiritual Power, aka mental stamina.'_

Ah. I take it you can tell me how much I have?

_'Of course. Don't worry 'bout the claws, though, they don't eat up much energy at all. Hell, they're basicly free.'_

Neat. Maybe I should use 'em more…

"Let us commence with an All-Out Attack!" Oh, right, fighting. Need to focus!

"Go for it!" I replied, jamming my evoker into its holster as the attachment thingy vanished.

"Fatal Strike!"

Yay violence! Mitsuru got the killing blow on the Shadow, ramming her own rapier through the mask before calling up her Persona to skewer it more, then freeze it so she could stomp it into dust with her heels.

She sighed wearily once the shadow dissolved, then looked at me.

"Shade." I replied, know exactly what she was going to ask. "Uses a lot of power, though, so don't expect to see it often."

"I see…" Mitsuru sighed again. "I'm beginning to wonder if I even need to ask if abilities you display are related to that Persona or not…"

I shrugged. "Probably not. And hey, I'll tell you the same thing I told Junpei a while back, try talking to your Persona. You might be able to cook up tricks of your own if you do."

"What, like this?" Yukari asked, aiming a glowing arrow at me.

"Please tell me that arrow is made of Dia." She nodded. I sighed in relief. "Okay good..."

* * *

After all that, we headed back to the dorm to get some rest and stuff. Next morning headed downstairs to, again, see who wanted to go to the movies.

I rounded the corner to talk t- HELLO, AIGIS. She's currently bent over at the waist looking down at Koromaru, wearing an oddly tight pair of jeans and a long sleeved blue shirt. DAMN, that's ho- NO! FOCUS! Urgh, stupid sexy Aigis…

"Morning, Aigis." I greeted, finally averting my gaze from her backside. "What's up?"

Aigis looked over her shoulder at me. "Koromaru-san has an intense desire to go somewhere. Furthermore, it appears that if he does not go today, he will not be able to go at all. Please listen to Koromaru-san's request, Roy-san."

I looked down at Koromaru. He barked once. I shrugged. "Alright then. Let's get going."

Koromaru barked again.

"Koromaru-san is very happy." Aigis informed me, smiling. "I, in turn, am happy for Koromaru-san."

God she's cute.

* * *

And Koromaru wants to go to the movies apparently. Well, actually the theater is showing the last episodes of the show 'True Battles of Real Men' today. From what Aigis told me, Koromaru likes to watch that show quite a lot. Yeah, our dog not only slays demons with us, he watches TV at the dorm. Sadly, getting Koromaru into the theater was not going to happen. I tried passing him off as a doll I was bringing to my girlfriend who was already in the theater, but they kicked us out.

Koromaru looked at me sadly as we sat outside the theater. He whimpered quietly.

"Don't worry, little buddy." I patted him on the head. "I'll get you the DVD box set when it comes out, okay?"

Koromaru's ears perked up and he barked happily. _(Okay.)_

I smiled. "Awright." I stood up. "Now c'mon, let's go for a walk before we head back,."

He barked again, then followed after me as I set off jogging.

* * *

When we got back to the dorm a little while later, Aigis seemed kinda off. Well, as 'off' as she can get, anyways. I felt like investigating, so I walked over and sat down next to her.

"Good Evening, Roy-san." She greeted. "Summer vacation will end soon, and school will be in session." She frowned slightly. "This poses a problem… I will not be able to stay by your side when you are at school. That worries me…"

My brain immediately decided to bring the memory of Aigis in a Gekkoukan High uniform to the front of my brain, which actually gave me an idea. "Well, why don't you ask if you can come to school with us?"

Aigis blinked a few times, then smiled. "I will speak to Yukari-san regarding that subject."

…What have I just gotten myself into, and why do I not really care?

_'Because you like Aigis.'_

…Yeah let's go with that.

* * *

The next day was more of the same, except I went to the movies with Junpei. It was a freaking American Action Movie marathon, and you can bet your ass I was all for that. When we got out of the theater, Junpei was all bummed out he wasn't born in the States, or else he'd have been as awesome as the dudes in the movies. I told him that, by logic of movies, he'd be more awesome here because he'd get to fight Godzilla. That basicly made his day, and we kept talking about how the Junpei VS Godzilla fight would go the entire way back to the dorm. It was awesome.

Next morning, there was a knock at my door.

"It's me." Hi Mitsuru. "I apologize for the interruption, but do you have a moment?"

"Yeah, be right there." I replied, pulling a light button-up shirt on over my regular shirt as I walked over to open the door. "Mornin' senpai."

"Good morning." She greeted back. "The Chairman will be here tonight. We'll meet on the fourth floor as usual. That's all."

And then she just turned around and walked off, and all I could wonder is how she can wear heels like that all the time. I mean, DAMN. Ah well. I grabbed my hat, then headed downstairs. I snagged some breakfast from the kitchen before I sat down on one of the sofas near Aigis.

"Good morning, Roy-san." She greeted.

"Hey Aigis." I replied. "You hear about the meeting tonight?"

She nodded. "Affirmative. I will relax until then." She looked at me with a head tilt. "Do you have any suggestions on how to relax, Roy-san?"

I though for a second as I chewed a bite of my cereal, swallowing before I answered. "Well, we could go out to the movies. That can be pretty relaxing, and the Film Festival is going for a few more days..."

"The… movies?" Aigis tilted her head in the opposite direction. "I see… so going out is considered to be relaxing, too." She nodded. "Then let us go relax."

I smirked. "Alright, just let me finish eating then we'll get going."

"Understood."

* * *

Okay, this is the biggest coincidence EVER. I mean, seriously. Today's movie marathon is all about ninjas. NINJAS. I'm going to go see a bunch of ninja movies with a demon slaying robot girl who insists on being around me. This is just plain crazy awesome, despite sounding like something out of a really wacky anime series or a video game.

"'Ninja war'…" Aigis read aloud from one of the movie posters, then looked back at me. "Does this refer to opposing platoons of ninjas on the screen?"

I shrugged. "It might. I've never seen this movie before."

She nodded slightly, then turned around to face me. She's wearing that cream jacket again, along with a light grey shirt and jeans. It actually looks kind of like what I usually wear in winter, just more suited to her style. "According to Junpei-san… 'Ninjas are the coolest of the cool!'"

I chuckled. Good ol' Junpei.

* * *

One ninja movie marathon later, and we exited the theater. Ninjas are cool, but Pirates are more badass. Plus they have cooler hats.

"I have updated my information on ninjas." Aigis stated as we walked towards the station. "Ninja is the ultimate status that a man can achieve. In combat, the power of their body is equivalent that of highly advanced special weapons. They were war machines, with unparalleled fighting skill."

"Yeah, but ninjas were trained assassins." I pointed out. "While yes, they could hold their own very well in direct combat, you usually don't see them coming until they kill you, by which point it doesn't matter."

"I comprehend." She replied, then seemed to get deep into though. The little gear things in her headphones began spinning with a noticeable whirring noise. "Given these facts, I am curious as to why their existence has ceased…" Her eyebrows furrowed. "Was it an ice age…?" She tilted her head. "Perhaps the proliferation of the Internet?"

I had to suppress a laugh at that. She's going into Wild Mass Guessing about ninjas.

Aigis shook her head, the whirring of her gears slowing. "An enigma I may never resolve…" She looked at me and smiled. "Thank you very much for today. I shall call you Roy-ninja from now on."

I burst out laughing, that was just to perfect. I ended up having to hold onto her arm to keep myself from falling over. When I was able to stand up by myself again, Aigis was smiling at me.

"I am glad you liked my first attempt at a humorous joke."

I smiled back. "You're welcome, Aigis."

* * *

We headed up to the Command Room once we got back to the dorm. The two of us sat on the end of the big sofa nearest to the door and simply waited for the others to show up. Shinjiro, Akihiko, Mitsuru and Koromaru were the first, with Koro taking up a seat next to Aigis' legs while the Bash Brothers sat on two of the stools and Mitsuru sat on the end of the sofa opposite me. Fuuka, Yukari and Junpei showed up about ten minutes later, with Yukari snagging the last stool while Fuuka sat next to Mitsuru and Junpei sat between me and Fuuka.

"Good, you're all here." Sketchtsuki stated as he walked into the room. He looked back over his shoulder. "Please come in."

"Sorry to interrupt."

My eyes widened as Ken strolled up next to Sketchtsuki.

No. Fucking. Way.

Akihiko stood up. "You must be kidding…"

The Chairman shook his head. "After running several tests, we've learned he has more then adequate potential."

"I could've told you that from the get go." I growled. "I just didn't because I do NOT like the idea of sending someone that young to fight Shadows, no matter HOW powerful his Persona is."

"Is that so?" Sketchtsuki glared at me. "Well, regardless, I called this meeting so that I could introduce him, since he'll be joining our squad."

"Did I stutter a second ago?" I snapped.

"Fortune does have a point, Mr. Chairman." Mitsuru added quickly, standing up as well. "He's still in elementary school. Besides…"

Sketch raised an eyebrow. "Besides… what? His ability is quite promising. With the proper training, he could be a big help."

"That's all well and good…" Shinjiro began, his expression somewhat dark. "But is HE okay with it?"

Ken's gaze turned to Shinjiro. "Actually, I asked to join. I believe I can be of some assistance…. Now, I finally know why I was given this power."

My eyes narrowed. I do not like the look on his face.

"So, as you can see, it was his own decision." Stated the chairman with a hint of smugness.

"Nice to meet you all." said Ken, bowing slightly. "I'll try not to get in anyone's way."

Aigis nodded slightly at him. "Nice to meet you, too."

I looked over at Akihiko and Shinjiro, and neither one of them looked all that happy. There is something very, very wrong here…

"Hey, don't worry, kid." Junpei commented, standing up. "We got your back. It may be hard at times, but stick with it."

Ken nodded. "Yes, got it!"

I sighed loudly, burying my face in my hands. This is just not right.

* * *

After the meeting, I just went to bed early. The next day I simply stayed in and did absolutely nothing. Or at least I planned on it, until Fuuka asked if I wanted to head to the movies with her. I shrugged and agreed to it, though I regret it now because 'hard' science fiction actually freaks me the hell out a little bit. Fuuka thought it was great, though. On the way back to the dorm, she wanted to stop by a couple bookstores at the Iwatodai Strip Mall. We started with this one on the top floor called 'Book On'.

"There doesn't seem to be that many cookbooks here…" Fuuka sighed dejectedly, then turned to face me. "Sorry… I guess people bought all the good ones… I should've called to ask before we came all the way here." She seemed uneasy as we walked out of the store. "…Do you remember what I told you, Roy-kun? That it's been a while since I've been in a bookstore…?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well… something happened in a bookstore that I want to forget…" She began. "It was last April. Someone took a picture of me… 'stealing'."

I raised an eyebrow, then thought of something. "Did you accidentally knock some books down or something?"

Fuuka nodded sadly. "I'm short, so when I was reaching for the top shelf, a few books fell. Somehow, one of them landed in my bag. But, when I went to take them out and put them back on the shelf, some girl from our school took a picture of me with her cell phone and accused me of stealing." Her eyes drifted downward. "She threatened to show my parents the picture…"

"And you didn't say anything to her?" I asked. "Like that it was just a misunderstanding?"

She shook her head. "No… I couldn't say anything. All these negative thoughts were running through my head. I thought that no matter what I said, it wouldn't do any good." Fuuka looked up at me. "But, I feel like if I'm with you, Roy-kun, then I can change…" She smiled. "I feel like if you're around, I won't think so negatively…" She laughed a little and looked down at her feet. "That must sound so selfish… But…" She looked at me again. "Sorry, I don't know what I'm saying… It seems like I'm trying to take advantage of you, doesn't it…?"

"No, it doesn't." I told her. "I don't mind anyways."

"That's good, it's not my intention anyways…" Fuuka started blushing a little. "I… I guess what I'm trying to say is…"

I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Fuuka. Just calm down."

She nodded. "I've come to really depend on you, Roy-kun… And I just wanted to say that I appreciate you…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

"Sorry, I'm not making any sense…" Fuuka shook her head quickly. "I'll explain to you how I feel when I understand it myself…" She moved away from me. "I'm really sorry…"

She turned and ran off. I sighed to myself. Damn Big Brother Instinct.

* * *

I got back to the dorm a little while later and Shinjiro was sitting on the sofa reading something.

"Hey." I greeted as I flopped down in a chair.

He grunted in response, then turned a page of his magazine. We just sat in silence for a while, then he lowered his reading material.

"Hey, Roy, do you smell something?"

"Eh?" I sniffed the air a few times. Good god, what in the hell…? "Yeah, what the hell is that?"

Shinji looked around, then he spotted the open door to the kitchen. "Is it coming from over by the counter?"

My eyes widened, then I looked at him. He looked at me, then the two of us shot out of our chairs and darted over to the kitchen. We found Fuuka inside.

"Hey… Are you causing this smell, Fuuka?" Shinji asked.

She looked back at us. "Huh? Does it smell?"

How can she not smell this? It's like a something freaking DIED. Okay, maybe not that bad, but pretty damn close!

"What're you doing?"

Fuuka nervously rubbed her arm. "Um… I was trying to make beef stroganoff…"

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow. "What about the roux?"

"Oh, I didn't use any." Fuuka replied semi-happily. "I made it from scratch with flour…"

"Don't start acting proud after you've burned it…" he groaned, rubbing his head.

"Oh, you're right…" Her expression fell. "This is burnt…What should I do…?"

Shinji sighed. "You got any of those ingredients left?"

Fuuka nodded. "Oh, yes. I bought extra everything."

"I'll make it." He stated, moving further into the kitchen. "Watch and learn." He looked back at me. "Roy, you hungry?"

"Hell yeah." I told him. This should be good.

* * *

Watching Shinjiro teach Fuuka how to not fail at cooking is like watching that one really angry british chef guy on that one cooking show yelling at people to do stuff the way he wants, except there's less angry swearing and more 'why god why' sighing.

When they were done, Shinjiro brought it out and set it down on the table. It looks like it came straight out of a damn cookbook.

"Wow, it looks so delicious…" Fuuka gasped in awe.

"Just shut it and eat up before it gets cold." Shinjiro griped, piling some of the stroganoff on a plate.

"Itadakimasu!" I smirked as I got myself some, then sat down and took a bite. Holy shit, this is awesome. "Damn, Shinjiro. You've got mad skills."

Fuuka nodded in agreement once she took a bite. "Yeah, you're amazing, Shinjiro-senpai…"

Shinjiro shook his head. "No, I'm not… I mean, anyone could do something like…"

"No, they can't!" Fuuka insisted. "Please, teach me again! Promise!"

I chuckled to myself as I continued eating.

* * *

One we were done, Fuuka insisted on cleaning up, which left me and Shinji sitting at the table alone.

"'Please teach me again', huh?" He sighed. "Looks like she made me promise without letting me say anything…"

"Looks that way." I commented.

"Well… I guess I'll make something again later."

Idea. "Why not throw a party or something?" I asked.

"A party?" Shinjiro raised an eyebrow. "Here? That's kind of pushing it…"

"Pfft, so?" I smirked. "We've been busting our ass for months with all our operations against Shadows an everything. Couldn't hurt to have a little celebration, could it?"

He frowned, then nodded. "Yeah, you got a point." He smirked. "Maybe it'll be okay to do one once in a while…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

"Well, we can work out the details some other time." Shinjiro stated, standing up. "I'm going to go check up on Fuu-" A loud crash came from the kitchen, causing Shinjiro to facepalm. "…Too late…"

* * *

Thankfully Fuuka was okay, she just knocked over a few pots and pans. As I went up to head to bed, Ken asked when our next trip to Tartarus would be, and I told him tomorrow night.

"Hello."

"Hey Pharos." I replied. Kid's punctual about showing up right when the Dark Hour hits. "One Week the Full Moon Warning time again?"

"Eyup." He said simply. "Are you ready? Only a few trials remain, so be careful."

"Duely noted, little buddy." I stated, saluting. "Thanks for the warning. See you when it's over, alright?"

Pharos smiled. "Will do. I look forward to seeing you again."

Then he just vanished, not even doing his usual 'disappear through the door' trick. Heh. Nice kid, if a bit creepy.

* * *

I wanted to clear my head the next morning, so I took Koromaru for a walk up to Naganaki Shrine. When we got there, I saw some guy in a striped shirt sitting there. I think I've seen him before, but I don't remember where…

Koromaru barked, then darted off behind the shrine for some reason. I shrugged to myself, then walked over to Stripes.

"Hey there." I said casually as I approached. He looked up at me. Sun Arcana.

"Your eyes are so clear… Your soul must be burning brightly." commented Stripes. "The me that I see reflected in your eyes and the real me, if there is such a thing... how far apart are they?" The hell is he on about? "Your words are very beautiful...if I had something to write with, I'd write them down."

"You don't have a pen with you?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I have a fountain pen… it uses red ink- blood red." He told me. "My pen is my supporter, my spokesman, and my friend. However, it seems to have disappeared. Without it, my screams are silenced…"

A muffled bark drew our attention to Koromaru, who was walking over with a pen in his mouth. Stripes seemed to perk up.

"Oh… that pen… is that my missing fountain pen?" He asked as Koromaru set it on the bench next to him. Stripes picked it up and smiled. "It is. Ah… welcome home, dear friend." He patted Koro on the head. "Thank you for finding it for me."

Koromaru just barked, then scampered off. The guy turned his attention back to me.

"My name is Akinari Kamiki." He said. "Have a seat if you'd like. I'll write something for the two of us."

I shrugged, then sat down. "Name's Roy Fortune."

"I remember you." he said. "You're the guy who was playing with that elementary school girl."

"Oh yeah, you're the stripe shirt guy from the Takoyaki stand." Now I remember him. Damn, that was a while ago. "Maiko-chan seemed fond of you." I sighed. "Too bad she had to move away."

"Oh, is that what happened?" Akinari asked, frowning. "It's a shame. She was very…" He stopped to think for a moment, as if searching for the right word. "Bright. Her face shone with the warm light of new life." He sighed. "Compared to her light, I'm but a vanishing shadow." Akinari shook his head. "Misery is a harsh mistress. I feel as though I'm lying in an unyielding darkness."

"I've felt something like that." I told him. "Probably not like what you're going through, though."

"I didn't think so…" He said, sighing again. "Any day now… I'm going to die."

I looked at him in awe, barely managing to speak. "…What?"

"I have a genetic disease without any known cure." Akinari told me. "Unless you're in my situation, you can't understand what it's like."

I nodded in agreement. "You've got a point there."

"…But I prefer it that way." He smiled. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone. There isn't anything you can do to slow this down or make things better." He winced slightly. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to depress you or anything. I haven't spoken to someone my own age in a long time."

I smirked. "It's fine."

"I suppose it's natural for those in darkness to yearn for the world of light." Akinari admitted, smiling again. "I'm glad we could meet, though. If there's a god, I'll be able to thank him soon enough…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

That… is just morbid. Really, spooky voices? REALLY?

"However…" He began. "I would rather you not come here ever again. You only live once, right?" He looked at me as he stood up. "So why waste your life among the dying?" He shook his head and started to leave. "Goodbye."

* * *

I headed back to the dorm with Koromaru shortly after that, mostly bummed out. Anyways, now we're heading to everyone's least favorite Shadow nest to kick some ass and find out exactly what Ken's Persona can do.

I took him up along with Aigis and Mitsuru, and his Persona freaking scares me. Why? It's a giant fucking buzz saw robot. Its power is insane, though. It's almost better with Zio then Akihiko is, it has a crazy skill that does more damage to enemies that've been knocked over, and it can heal pretty well in addition to learning Hama spells.

Once we hit the barrier, though, we headed back down and called it a night. We might come back again before the next full moon, but I'm not sure at the moment.

Next day was the last day of summer vacation, which kinda sucks but eh. I'm sitting in the lounge havin' some breakfast at the moment. I have no idea why I love this brand of Japanese cereal so damn much. I don't even read the name of it.

"Umm… Roy-san?"

I looked over at Ken. "Yeah?"

"Today's the last day of summer vacation, right?"

I nodded as I took another bite. "Yeah, why?"

He fidgeted nervously. "Well, since it's the last day… I was wondering if you had any plans."

I raised an eyebrow. "I was planning on heading to the film festival again today." Light bulb. "Did you want to tag along? I don't mind."

"Really?" Ken asked hopefully. I nodded, and he smiled. "Great!"

* * *

Oh. Hell. Yes. Japanese Superhero Movie day! _YESSSSS._

"The monster on that poster is from Amoebaman…!" Ken noted excitedly, then he seemed to catch himself. "Err… I-I wasn't really looking forward to this, you understand… I was just bored, and I thought it would pass the time…" He looked at the clock. "Oh no, it's starting! Quick, we gotta get good seats!"

"You get the seats, I'll get the snacks." I told him as we darted into the theater. Creepy buzz saw brain demon or not, he's still a kid.

* * *

Let it never be said that I am not secretly a fan of Super Sentai, no matter how utterly ridiculous it is.

"That…" began Ken as we exited the theater. "That was SO COOL!"

"Dude, I know!" I told him, grinning like crazy.

"Oh! Did you see the part where Amoebaman gets captured?" He was bouncing up and down, grinning as well. "And, and the part where he's stuck in the underground prison, but Morus Signal came to help! And then they had him tied up, and the bad guys were about to shoot him, but then the whole team-!" He suddenly stopped and coughed slightly. "…Anyway, I thought some of the scenes were pretty good."

My grin widened. "What about the Phoenix Ranger Featherman R movie they were playing?"

"Oh man, that one was the best!" Ken's cheery disposition returned instantly. "Feather Condor and Red Hawk going up against all those bad guys by themselves was amazing!"

"I know, right?" I agreed as we started back to the train station. "I still think the part where Hawk punched that one guy so hard he knocked over like, twenty more was freaking EPIC."

"Me too!" He agreed. "I didn't think you'd like stuff like Featherman."

I laughed. "To hell with people thinking it's childish, if you can't enjoy life then it's pretty much not worth living. And Featherman is awesome. Way better then Power Rangers."

"You watch that?" Ken asked with a fair amount of surprise in his voice.

I shrugged. "Used to. It stopped being awesome once Dino Thunder was on the air, but SPD was okay." I shook my head. "But whatever!" I grinned again. "What other scenes did you like?"

"Oh, oh, the part where Red Hawk calls in backup from the Featherman HQ…"

* * *

The rest of the trip back to the dorm was just the two of us talking about how awesome the movies were. Honestly, I think Ken's not used to having people to talk to, much less someone who can understand what it's like to loose their family.

Seeing as I'm determined to not let the whole thing with Aigis bother me, I plan on just chatting with her tonight. My only problem is I have no idea what to talk to her about.

"Roy-san?"

Speak of the devil, there she is. "Yes, Aigis?"

"Why does everyone fight?"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she sat down next to me at the second floor lounge. "To end the Dark Hour."

She shook her head. "That is the motivation of the group. What about the motivations of the individuals?"

I rubbed my chin.

_'That's actually a good question. Why DOES everyone fight?'_

I've got a few answers to that I've made from observations. "Everyone has a different reason. I have a hunch I know most of them."

"Can you elaborate?" Aigis asked, tilting her head.

"Of course." I smiled. "Let's start with Junpei. He fights because he wants to be a hero, to be someone who has the respect of others."

She frowned. "Why does he desire respect?"

"Junpei's home life wasn't that great, which was his main reason to come to the dorm." I explained. "And apart from that, if you remove his Persona ability, Junpei is, at best, a model example of a slacker. Slightly below-average grades, talks big but can't back up his words, and few friends. He's an outgoing person, but people shut down his advances because they likely see him as just annoying."

"Like Yukari-san does at times?"

"To an extent, yes." I stated. "Her motivations are, obviously, different from Junpei's as well. When she joined SEES, it was to find out the details behind the demise of her father, who was a Kirijo Scientist and was in charge of the project that resulted in the Dark Hour. However, until we went to Yakushima, we didn't know that last detail. It happened the night before you and I met at the beach."

"So Yukari-san fights for her father?"

"Indeed. Her dad died in the accident, and once she found out, her reaction was… Well, it wasn't very positive, that's for damn sure." I said. "A secondary motivation for her is to avoid her mother, who she doesn't get along with very well because of how she's been acting since her father passed away."

Aigis nodded slowly. "What of Akihiko-san?"

"That's a tough one." I admitted. "I've only got bits of details about it I've heard from him and Shinjiro, but it sounds like something serious happened to him in the past that drives him to become stronger. I can't say for sure what it was, though."

"And what motivates Mitsuru-san?"

I rubbed my chin. "That's even harder to say for certain. If I had to say, it's for her own father."

"Why is that?"

"I suppose it's because he doesn't have a Persona, and thus is incapable of combating Shadows himself." I speculated. I didn't sense him with a Persona when we met him, so it's a fair bet.

"I comprehend." Aigis stated. "You mentioned Shinjiro-san has spoken of Akihiko-san's motivation. What is his own?"

"Shinjiro's is another hard one." I sighed. "He actually left SEES two years ago after his Persona went berserk and killed someone. I spoke to him shortly before the Operation back in June when we rescued Fuuka from Tartarus and fought the Arcana Empress and Arcana Emperor, and having that person's blood on his hands shook him to his core. I can understand why, seeing as Persona is the power of your mind, and to loose control of it is to loose control of yourself."

"Then he is deeply troubled by this event?"

I nodded. "Correct. When I spoke to him, I apparently managed to get him to rethink his decision to not help us, and he rejoined SEES shortly before the July seventh Operation. I'd say he's choosing to fight through the guilt now."

"Do you know of what drives Fuuka?"

"Hers is actually simple." I began. "Because of her parents, for reasons I don't actually know, she feels that she isn't doing enough for us and wants to be more useful. Sadly, she doesn't seem to understand that she doesn't need to. I'd say something, but it's better if she finds it out on her own."

Aigis nodded again. "I comprehend."

"As for Koromaru, his is probably the simplest." I smiled. "He just wants to keep his owner's memory alive and repay us for saving his life." I frowned. "But Ken… I'm not sure about what drives Ken."

Aigis tilted her head. "Why not?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "He's really hard to get a read on, and I haven't really spoken to him very much. I'm actually kind of concerned with him, he's got this look in his eye like he's willing to die if he has too." I shook my head. "That's not a mindset someone his age should have."

"A self-destructive nature is not good for any being." Aigis stated.

"Yeah." I agreed, then chuckled. "And I don't really need to think about your motivation."

"It is my highest priority to be with you." She said firmly.

I laughed. "I know, Aigis."

"What about you, Roy-san?"

I looked at her. "Huh?"

"For what reason do you fight?" She asked, tilting her head.

I frowned, and folded my arms. "You know… I haven't really though about it." I looked up towards the ceiling. "I guess now I fight so nobody else will have to go through what I did."

"Now?" Aigis frowned slightly in confusion. "You used to fight for a different reason?"

"Yeah." I told her. "When I joined SEES in the first place, I really had no reason to fight except that it was something to do. I just fought because I could." I chuckled. "Actually, I probably fought for the same reason as Junpei. Because I wanted to be a hero, except I was less concerned about getting recognition for it." I sighed. "But once I found out how the Dark Hour came to be, and what happened because of it, I wanted to get rid of it so nobody else would have to suffer. That is why I fight."

"I comprehend." She nodded, then she seemed to be thinking about something.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your reason for fighting…" Began Aigis, lifting her head to look at me. "Seems to stand opposite Yukari-san's."

Eyebrow. "How so?"

"Yukari-san fights for her father and herself, but no one else." She stated. "You, however, fight for the sake of others so that they might not know your pain."

_'So basicly Yukari fights selfishly, and you fight selflessly.'_

"Huh…" I rubbed my chin. "That's actually rather interesting…" I shook my head slightly. "But it's not really that important. Our reasons may be different, but we all want the same thing; The end of the Dark Hour."

"Affirmative." Aigis agreed.

I yawned slightly. "Mrgh, I'm going to go to bed now, Aigis." I stood up. "The second semester starts up tomorrow, so I need some rest."

"I understand." She replied as I started walking down the hall. "Goodnight, Roy-san."

I smiled and looked back at her as I opened my door. "Goodnight, Aigis."

* * *

Got up a little early the next morning, so I had time to swing by the Sweet Shop to pick up a couple slices of cake to bring to Ms. Toriumi. Hell, I even got to school early enough to give them to her without people spotting me, though I bumped into the Principal on my way to class.

"Excuse me, Mr. Fortune…" He began with the most serious expression I've ever seen on his face. "I need to speak with you in my office."

Hooo boy. This is probably about Ekoda…

* * *

Yeah it's about Ekoda.

"Under more normal circumstances, what you did would be grounds for expulsion." Stated the Principal. I don't actually know this guy's name, which is kind of weird but eh. "However, in light of Mr. Ekoda's unpopularity with the rest of the faculty, myself included, and other factors, I have decided to merely issue a warning." Wait, what? "If you try to harm anyone on school grounds again, you will be expelled on the spot, no exceptions." He glared at me. "Is that understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

He nodded back. "Good. But, do remember, I said on SCHOOL grounds." He smirked. "What you do outside of school is your own business, so long as it's not too serious."

Wow, this is the most awesome Principal I've ever met EVER.

* * *

After school I headed to Fashion Club to see how Andre was holding up.

Interestingly, Hamuko wasn't here today, so it was just the two of us working on stuff.

"Roy-sama…" I looked up at Andre. "You want to go somewhere to eat after zis?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

"Zank you very much!" He smiled. I'm grateful he's gotten over that 'repeat everything he says in Japanese' quirk of his. "Zere eez some zing I need to talk to you about."

* * *

We went down to Wakatsu at the Iwatodai strip mall a little while later. Never actually been here yet. Damn good sushi they got in this place.

"So what's up, Andre?" I asked as I ate.

He sighed. "…I'm afraid I might have to go back home…"

Eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I was able to come here because of my aunt, but…" Andre frowned. "My uncle didn't agree with the decision. He's yelling at me to come home now, like the mafia." He sighed. "If I go home, he'll never let me return to Japan!"

"So stay." I told him.

"I would love to stay in Japan…" He smiled. "This country is where I want to live and die!" Extreme, but okay. Andre's expression fell. "But, no matter how hard I try to convince him… he will not listen…" He sighed again. "I 'ave got to know you so well, Roy-sama…" Lapsing into Japanese, are we? "I cannot say 'Sayonara' like zis!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

"It's almost time to say Ja ne…" Andre noted, checking his watch as he stood up. "I'll see you at school, okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Catch ya later, buddy."

* * *

I sighed to myself as I walked into the dorm and shut the door behind me.

"Oh, you're back. Perfect timing."

I turned around and Yukari, Junpei, Ken, and Koromaru were all gathered in the lounge.

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked over.

"You'll see." Yukari replied, before she looked towards the stairs. "Hey, Fuuka, is Aigis ready?"

Ready for wha- Is that Aigis wearing a Gekkoukan Uniform?

_'Indeed it is.'_

Yessss.

"Ready for what?" Junpei asked as he stood up and turned around.

"She said she wanted to go to school, so I said something to Mitsuru-senpai as a joke…" Explained Yukari. "But, the Chairman overheard and thought it was a good idea, so as of tomorrow, she'll be a junior."

"Seriously?" Junpei seemed surprised. "He's down with that?"

"He said something about studying her behavior in a social environment." stated Fuuka.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's a great idea…" He grinned. "Just look at how cute she is in that uniform!"

"My thoughts exactly." I smirked slightly.

"The camouflage Fuuka-san has provided me with seems to be the appropriate size." Aigis commented.

"It looks very natural on you." Ken commented. "No one will suspect a thing." He frowned. "But, why does he want you to go to school? It's not like there's anything special about it."

"With the commencement of the second semester, I intend to synchronize my schedule with the other members." stated Aigis. "If I were to remain here on standby, it could delay our deployment." Aigis moved closer to me. "Therefore, I request to accompany our squad leader."

I am totally okay with this.

_'Of course you would be. You're in lo-'_

SHUT **UP**, SHADE.

"Delay our deployment?" Yukari scoffed. "Won't you going to school create more problems?"

Aigis turned her head to look at Yukari. "I will make any necessary adjustments as problems arise."

I suppressed a chuckle as Koromaru barked a few times. (I want to go to school, too!)

I winced. "Sorry, Koromaru. We'd get in trouble if you came to school with us."

Koro whimpered sadly.

Aigis looked at me. "Why can't Koromaru-san attend school? Nowhere in the school regulations does it state canines are prohibited from attending school."

Really? Didn't know that. "It's common sense, though the only except I could think of would be someone who needs a seeing eye dog."

"A tacit understanding that is not listed in the school regulations…" Aigis nodded. "My question has been answered. Thank you very much."

* * *

I made sure to thank Mitsuru for keeping the Principal from kicking me out of school before I went to bed, though she admitted it wasn't that hard to convince him. Apparently the two of them butt heads a lot, so me beating the hell out of Ekoda basicly made his day. Speaking of Ekoda, he was actually at school today, so I guess I didn't fuck him up too badly, but he probably spent most of the break recovering. He seemed angry I was still in school, though he didn't say anything because I'm pretty sure he's afraid I'll be able to get away with punching him again, even though I won't.

The next morning I walked to school with Aigis, who still looks adorable in the school uniform, winter wear or not. If pressed, we could claim she's from a much warmer place and thus is actually cold because she's not used to the difference in temperature. She stopped at the gates to look over the school.

"I see." She began. "This must be Tartarus during the daytime."

"Nah, right now it's just a school." I told her.

"I see. I shall record that in my memory bank."

* * *

Once we actually got to class, Aigis stood up at the front of the room next to Ms. Toriumi.

"Class, we have a new student who will be joining us." Began Ms. Toriumi. "She just transferred here." She looked at Aigis. "Please introduce yourself."

Aigis took a step forward. "My name is Aigis. I am pleased to meet you all."

"Aigis… what a strange name… I wonder if she was born overseas." Mused the teacher as she opened a file. "Let's see, anything else I should know…?" Her eyebrow raised slightly. "Hm? …Humanoid tactical weapon?" DAMN IT SKETCHTSUKI. "What on Earth…?" She shook her head and closed the folder. "Clearly, that's a mistake. It just goes to show, you can't believe everything you read."

_'We are~! We are the shaken! We are the monsters~! Underneath your beeeed~!'_

Yeah~! Believe what you reeead~!

"You can sit…" Toriumi looked around the classroom. "Right over there, in that empty seat."

I looked to the seat she pointed at. It was the one next to me.

Squee.

"Um, Toriumi-sensei, that spot's already taken." Not squee. "He's just playin' hookey."

Our teacher's eye twitched. "Which means he's not here. So, it's free to be used, right?"

Woohoo!

Aigis nodded and walked over to sit down. "This spot will be perfect." She looked at me. "Because I always wish to be by his side because he's so charming."

…So this is what it's like to be the punch line for a Brick Joke. Ow.

For some reason, though, Yukari shot out of her seat. "Aigis!"

Aigis did her head tilt as I tried to shrink into my shirt to avoid the looks I was getting from others in the class. "Is there a problem?"

"Um, Yukari-chan…" began Hamuko. "Why're you standing up?"

"My, aren't we just full of drama today?" commented Ms. Toriumi. "Do me a favor and save the antics for after school."

I hope I can live that long.

* * *

Author Notes - I hope he can too. So now Aigis is going to school with Roy! Wacky Hijinks should ensue. Maybe. And we finally find out what motivates Roy. I'd get more into the meta behind it, but that'll come up in a later chapter. Chapter 30 should be the next few days leading up to the Full Moon, and 31 should be the fight with the Arcana Hermit if I don't manage to fit it into Chapter 30. Also, hey, the Evoker Laser Mod finally returns! Sadly, Shade is going to have to tweak it to make it more energy efficient(It's akin to Megido in SP consumption right now, except it's got more power behind it). And I have another review question: Are my fight scenes okay? They seem kinda short and lacking to me, so I want to hear what you people think of them.


	30. Through Sparks and Songs

I LIVE. And am checking out Student Council to see what Hidetoshi's up to now. Meeting was pretty standard.

"…That's it for today's meeting." Hide said at the end of it, then he walked over and stopped near me. "Roy, I want to talk to you. Meet me on the roof, okay?"

Hey, he's finally stopped with the honorifics! "Sure thing."

So now we're standin' up here on the roof.

"I'm sorry to drag you up here, but I wanted to tell you something…" Hidetoshi turned to face me. "The cigarette butt incident will be dropped… They say it's my fault, for asking so many questions."

"That and, ya know, it's been months at this point." I commented.

Hide nodded in agreement. "I wanted to be Student Council President next year, and the P.E. teacher agreed to endorse me." Oh so THAT'S what that guy he was arguing with taught… "But, I lost any chance of achieving that goal when I disagreed with him." He sighed. "The student body is also annoyed with me. I rambled on about rules and fairness, but all that really proved was that I was desperate for power."

"Mmhm." I agreed. "Good thing you noticed that, huh?"

"…Now I know why the President asked you to join Student Council." He chuckled. "You don't say things to put people down. You're just honest with them."

I laughed. "That's just how I am."

"The system only works if you have people's trust, and trust is not something you force them to feel." Hidetoshi looked out over the city. "When Hayashimi-sensei suggested that you should be a suspect, I felt as if I was being bullied by an ignoramus who just had more power then me." He frowned. "I felt like the truth was being bent and I might lose a friend as a consequence." He looked at me. "If it wasn't for you, Roy, I would've gotten carried away." Hidetoshi smirked. "Thanks."

I held out my hand for a fist bump. "No problem." Brofist.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Emperor Arcana._

"Don't tell anyone what I just told you." He asked. "I realize it's out of character for me… I'm sure everyone would just make fun of me."

I laughed a little. "I doubt it, but sure. I'll keep quiet."

Hidetoshi smirked. "Thanks. See ya later."

* * *

I opted to hang out at the mall for a while and wait to talk to Tanaka again. Not sure why I feel like seeing HIM right now, but eh. Maybe I'll let him know I've stopped with the blackmail…

_'I think he's stopped caring about that as well. Or maybe he forgot.'_

Who knows?

"Well, if it isn't my little protégé!" Speak of the Devil Arcana, there he is now.

"Evenin', Tanaka." I greeted. "You seem kinda different…"

"Oh, you can tell?" He smiled. "I had my hair revitalized earlier today. Doesn't it look healthier now?"

I was actually thinking he looked happier then usual, but eh.

"I'm afraid it's all part of the job." He sighed. "I have my fans to think of…"

Must… not… laugh…

"At home, I'm completely the opposite." He continued. "I dress like a slob and only shower once every three days." Did not need to know that. "Let me give you an analogy…" He tapped his chin a few times. "Vegetables! Perfect!" Tanaka looked at me. "Imagine an organically grown cucumber that looks deformed. Compare that to a cucumber that looks perfect, but was grown using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Which one do you think the supermarket would stock?"

"The straight ones." I stated. "They're easier to stack that way."

"That's the simple truth…" He sighed. "Taste and safety are not really considered. Instead, they carry cucumbers that even mold won't eat." Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "So, why do consumers still buy these cucumbers when they know the truth?"

"Most people believe what they see." I stated.

_'We are~! We are mistaken~! We are the voices~! Insiiide your heaaad~!'_

Yeah~! Believe what you seeeee~!

_'We need to stop letting that song Ear Worm us.'_

Yeah, probably.

"Indeed." Tanaka nodded sagely. "That's why, as much as I hate spending money, I buy expensive ties to win people's trust…" His eyes shot wide open. "Wait! You have that tape recorder with you, don't you? Oh god, don't tell ANYONE about me dressing like a slob and not showering daily! I can't afford to have people start believing I'm ordinary!"

I laughed. "I don't have it with me. Like I said, I stopped caring about that whole thing a long time ago."

Tanaka sighed in relief. "Oh good…" he gave me a pointed look. "But still, don't tell anyone."

"Alright, alright…" I replied. "Chill out."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

I glanced at my watch. "Eh, I'm gonna get goin' now. Kinda late." I started off, waving over my shoulder. "Later days, Tanaka."

* * *

I stopped by the Velvet Room before I went back to the Dorm and got ahold of some better 'sonas. Cu Chulainn most notably. Fucking beastly 'sona of awesomeness. Also managed to cash in for a bunch more elemental resistance cards at the Antique shop to fill in weakness holes where I needed to. Have a few left over, which should come in handy.

I was flipping through my stock of Inventory Cards and finally remembered I've got those Nihil Weapon things and haven't really been bothering with them all that much. I've still got the Foundation Saber I had fused back in June, but that thing sucks, so I've been ignoring them. Of course my 'sonas were pathetic back then, so maybe I'll get better gear next time I drop by. I probably won't be able to get anything good in time for the Full Moon, though, so I'll stop by afterwards.

Nothing of note happened the next day, at least not until after school. I got to Art Club a little early and Keisuke was by himself, thinking out loud.

"Maybe I should just quit…" He said. "The club would be fine without me… and I… I'm not very good at painting anyways…"

I cleared my throat, causing him to whirl around.

"H-Huh? Roy-kun! Wh-when did you get here?" Keisuke panicked. "H-How long were you listening?"

"You're gonna quit?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about the contest?"

He winced, chuckling nervously. "S-So you heard everything, huh?"

"Eyup."

He sighed. "…My dad told me I should quit the Art Club. He said I need to concentrate more on my studies… I told him that the painting I submitted was selected to be in the finals… But he said I was just wasting my time." He frowned, his tone becoming bitter. "He said that because I'm his only son, it's my responsibility to take over the hospital. My dad doesn't care about me! He only cares about his stupid hospital!" Keisuke's temper began flaring up. "And why does everyone think I'm going to be a doctor? Just because my dad's a doctor doesn't mean I want to be a doctor, too!" He growled in frustration. "Ugh, I can't take it anymore! I have my own dreams, you know!"

"And what good will complaining do you?" I asked.

Keisuke sighed. "Yeah, you're right… I have to tell my dad how I fell…" He nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right, Roy-kun." His eyes widened. "I've got it! I-I'm going to make a bet with my dad!"

Eyebrow. "What kind of bet?"

"If I don't win the contest, I'll quit the club, just like he wants me to." He smirked. "But if I do win, then I can do whatever I want!"

I smirked back. "Now you're talkin'."

"Yep, that's it! As soon as I get home, I'm going to talk to him." Keisuke nodded to himself, then looked back at me. "P-Please don't tell anyone about this, Roy-kun! I don't want everyone to worry about me quitting the Art Club, so let's just keep it between us, okay?"

"Sure thing, Keisuke."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

You know, even after all this time, I'm still not fuckin' used to these things stopping time to tell me my friendship powers are getting stronger.

_'Eh, give it another month or so and you'll be fine.'_

Probably.

* * *

Nothing much happened that night or the next day. After school I decided to tag along with Junpei on the way back to the dorm, and he wanted to stop by the Port Island Station for a bit. We ended up approaching this rather attractive girl in a white gothic dress with bright red hair who was sketching away quietly. Hanged Man Arcana.

"Yo, Chidori." Junpei greeted casually. Wow, already up to no honorifics with her? Go Junpei. "How's your hand?"

She looked at him and held up her right hand.

"Huh?" Junpei blinked a few times. "I don't see anything… not even a scar… Did it heal that quickly?"

Chidori noticed me and scooted slightly away from us where she was sitting.

"Oh, uh, sorry." He rubbed his neck, then motioned to me. "This is my buddy, Roy."

I tipped my hat. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

Chidori raised an eyebrow at my comment, but otherwise ignored me. "Hey, Junpei…" Wow, she calls him by name without honorifics as well? Damn. "What do you do to make yourself feel alive?"

"Uh, I dunno…" He shrugged. "Breathing, I guess?" He chuckled. "Y'know, I never really thought about it before now. How 'bout you, Chidori? Is that why you draw?"

"Maybe…" She sighed. "But, most of these are just scribbles… I don't understand them myself very well."

"I see…" muttered Junpei before he shook his head lightly. "Mind if I sit here?"

Chidori didn't protest, so he sat down.

"To tell the ya the truth, these is one thing that makes me feel alive…" Junpei began suddenly. "When I get to play hero."

Chidori stopped sketching and looked at him funny.

"In the darkest hour, unknown to all but a few, the chosen ones stand against the forces of evil!" He was smirking as he spoke. "Our hero, Junpei, fights to protect the world from these terrifying monsters!" He sprang to his feet. "Heheh… Well, you get the idea. That's when I feel the most alive!"

I'd have said something, but Chidori didn't laugh. She just stared at Junpei quietly. Then I noticed something.

"Umm…" said Junpei uneasily. "You're s'posed to laugh…"

"So…" she began. "Do you fight all alone…?"

"H-Hey, I was just kiddin' around…"

"You fight during a time that no one knows about, right? So then, no one knows what you've been doing, either." Chidori continued. "That means you'll never receive any recognition… I'm impressed." She smiled. "I didn't know you were that kind of guy."

Junpei was dumbstruck. "…For real? You actually believe me?"

She nodded slightly. "Tell me more…"

"You really wanna know?" he asked, looked over at me. I smirked and nodded, then he looked back at Chidori. "Okay, but don't tell anyone, alright? Ya see, there's this special power called 'Persona', and only those who have it can defeat the monsters. That's why I meant by 'the chosen ones'." He jerked his thumb in my direction. "Roy and the rest of my friends are fighting too, and ever since I joined 'em, we've been kicking some serious ass!"

"Sounds like fun." Chidori giggled. "Are you the leader? Because it sounds like you're pretty strong."

"Hell yeah, this guy's tough." I chimed in, smacking Junpei on the shoulder. "He's almost cracked under the pressure a few times, but he pulled through and killed the hell out of a few of the big ones." I smirked. "That's why he's the boss."

He clearly understood I was totally helping him, so he tried acting all modest about it. "Ah, c'mon man, you've done pretty well yourself. You saved my ass big time back in July."

"Yeah, but that was nothing." I commented dismissively. "You dished out the most hurt on that thing, I just finished it off."

Chidori closed her sketchbook and stood up.

"Thank you, Junpei…" She said. "I had fun today."

He looked at her in surprise. "Y-You did?"

Chidori nodded. "It's time for me to go." She started off past us. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

And now she's gone.

"Heheh… Tomorrow, huh?" Junpei was grinnin' like crazy. "…All right!"

"She has the potential."

His head snapped in my direction instantly. "What?"

"She has the potential." I repeated with a serious expression. "Got a semi-sleeping Persona as well. She's seen the Dark Hour for herself, Junpei." I looked at him. "So your little speech there probably eased her fears about it." I smirked. "Looks like you just became her knight in shining armor, my friend."

"You think so?" He looked in the direction Chidori had left.

I nodded. "Very much so. So c'mon, let's go. We've got an Operation tomorrow, so let's beat this thing so she can rest easier."

Junpei nodded back, a determined fire in his eye. "You got it." He smirked. "And thanks for backing' up my story."I grinned. "No problem." Brofist.

* * *

That evening back at the dorm we got some of our stuff all setup and ready. I also handed out new gear to everyone, so we're all set. The final prep work will go down tomorrow.

I was kinda anxious the next day, so I headed back to the dorm right after school with Aigis and Fuuka. We got ourselves all strapped for war, but Junpei was takin' his time showing up. Eh, probably distracted talking to Chidori. I don't blame him, she's probably the first girl to show any interest in him so he's just happy.

So now we're all in the command room, except Ken who's checking for Junpei just in case.

"Tonight marks the sixth full moon…" commented Sketchtsuki. "Do you detect a Shadow?"

_{Yes…}_ Fuuka replied. _{It's near Paulownia Mall… I think.}_

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. "You think…?"

_{For some reason, I can't quite pinpoint its location…} _She stated. _{But, I'm trying to narrow it down…}_

"Is that its power?"

Fuuka shook her head inside of Lucia's bubble. _{I don't know.}_

"We have enough to go on." Shinjiro grunted.

I heard the door open, and turned around to see Ken running up to us.

"Did you find Iori?"

He shook his head. "I can't find him anywhere. His backpack isn't here, so I don't think he's been home yet."

"That idiot…" Yukari snarled. "He knows tonight's the night!"

_{I don't sense him anywhere nearby…}_ commented Fuuka. _{Should I take more time to look for him, just in case?}_

That's got me concerned now, although it's possible Chidori's house isn't very close to the dorm.

"No, it's okay." said Sketchtsuki. "You're all young; sometimes you just get in one of those moods. Anyway, we should focus on the task at hand."

Mitsuru nodded. "We can't afford to waste any more time. Let's go."

Fuuka dispelled Lucia, then followed most of the others out. I moved to join them, but Shinjiro stopped me.

"Wait…" He said. "Did he say anything earlier?"

I sighed. "Don't repeat what I'm about to tell you, understand?"

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow, then nodded slightly. "Alright."

"He met a girl by the name of Chidori." I told him. "I met her myself yesterday, and I saw she had the potential, but her Persona hasn't awakened. Junpei's probably keeping an eye on her so Shadows don't kill her or something."

"I see…" He said slowly, then shook his head. "Well, whatever. Let's get moving."

I nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

Okay, what the hell. We're at the mall, but our way in is blocked by this huge stage.

"Fuuka…" I began slowly as I adjusted my gauntlets. "Get behind something and summon Lucia."

"R-Right!" She scurried off and hid near a short wall before her Persona appeared.

"So where's the Shadow?" Yukari asked.

_{It's on the stage!}_ Fuuka reported. _{Be careful when you approach it!}_

"Will do." I replied. "Let's move."

The others carefully followed behind me. I got a better look at the stage, and it's got these giant teals coil things on it and there's a lone person standing there. Judging from the ponytails, it's a girl.

"Hey, it's Risette!"

I looked back at Yukari. "Who?"

"Rise Kujikawa!" She stated. "She's this new up and coming idol singer! I love her music!"

I looked back at 'Rise'. "Then why the hell am I not sensing an Arcana from her…?"

_{That's the Shadow!}_

Oh. That's why.

"So, what, we've got to fight some singer this time?" Shinjiro asked. "This'll be easy."

"And now this is going to be a massive pain in the ass." I griped. "Thanks for jinxing us, Shinjiro."

"Tch."

**~Boys call you sexy~**

The hell?

**~And you don't care what they say~**

The Not-Rise started dancing slightly as music began playing.

**~See every time you turn around they screaming you name~**

"What is it doing?"

**~Boys call you sexy~** The Shadow turned slightly, and I saw a Hermit Arcana mask hanging lopsided on its head. **~And you don't care what they say~**

"It's singing, Akihiko." I told it. "In English, actually."

**~Now I've got a confession…~ _(Ha ha ha ha)_ ~When I was I wanted attention~ _(Ha ha ha ha)_**

"What is it saying, Fortune?"

**~And I promised myself that I'd do anything…~ _(Ha ha ha ha)_ **The shadow was swaying back and forth at this point and small arcs of electricity went between the teals coils.** ~Anything at all for them to notice me~ _(Ha ha ha ha)_**

"I think it's singing something by the Pussycat Dolls…" I stated uncertainly. "I think I heard it in a commercial or on the radio once back in America. I forget."

**~But I ain't complaining, we all wanna be famous~** Not-Risette was beginning to dance faster now. **~So go ahead and say what you wanna say~**

_{What the…?}_

**~You don't know what its like to be nameless!~** The shadow smiled evilly. **~Want them to know what your name is!~**

The electricity was arcing a lot more now. That's not good…

**~Cuz see when I was younger I would say…~**

_{LOOK OUT!}_

**~WHEN I GROW UP!~ **Lightning shot out from the coils at us in wild arcs, forcing our group to scatter and dodge as fast as possible. **~I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies!~**

Fucking shit, this thing is throwing around chain lightning to the beat of music! It's just dancing and signing, and lightning is shooting out at is. I grabbed Aigis and dove behind a planter as the others hid behind various other things.

**~Be careful what you wish for cuz you just might get it!~ **Sang the Shadow. **~You just might get it, you just might get it!~**

I'd like to know where the rest of the music is playing from, but I don't really care at the moment. This Shadow can rip shit up Emperor Palpatine style, and that's seriously bad news for Yukari and Aigis.

_'Hey, remember how Fuuka could channel from Skill Cards?'_

Yeah, what good's that gonna do us?

_'Well, you have a spare Resist Elec card, right? Why not see if Aigis can use it!'_

That's brilliant! I dug in my jacket pocket and pulled out the card and handed it to Aigis. "Hold onto this, it should help protect you from the electricity. It won't stop it, but it'll block most of it."

"Understood." She replied, slipping the card into her hair band thing.

**~But I ain't complaining! We all wanna be famous!~**

It's at the chorus again, and the lightning has slowed down a bit.

"Alright Aigis, once it says the 'when I was younger' part, start shooting at it. I'm going to try and get up in its face and punch it." I told her. "And don't worry, I have a lightning immune persona on hand."

She nodded.

**~Cuz see when I was younger I would say…~** The Shadow grinned psychotically. **~WHEN I GROW UP!~**

I shot out from behind cover with Raga Naga blocking any lightning that hit me as Aigis started firing.

**~I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies!~**

I leapt onto the stage and started fist-fighting with the Shadow, who insisted on continuing to sing even as it danced around and/or blocked my attacks.

**~Be careful what you wish for cuz you just might get it! You just might get it, you just might get it!~** Rise Kuji-kill-us-all grabbed my arm and threw me across the stage, sending me sliding across the ground. Son of a bitch, I'm getting sick of hearing this song already.

_'Hey, Roy.'_

What?

_'Elizabeth's in your head asking if you'd like to, and I quote, 'have our assistance with slaying this Shadow with the power of rock'.'_

…Yes. Yes I would.

_'Okay, she's scampered off with a grin on her face. I'm moderately afraid now.'_

This should be good.

**~I see them staring at me~** The shadow danced around one of Yukari's tornado arrows and Castor's charge before sending a blast of lightning from the doom stage at the rest of SEES, scattering them again. **~Oh I'm a trendsetter~**

I saw Elizabeth, Theodore, and another, older woman sneak up onto the back of the stage with a bunch of instruments. The one I didn't recognize set up a drum set while Theo and Liz hooked up guitars to amps. Liz threw me a thumbs up, and I nodded and got back up.

**~I see you watching me, watching me, and I know you want it!~** Hermit Rise threw her arms out. **~WHEN I GROW UP! I wanna be fa-~**

_**"NO."**_ I snapped, running up and grabbing the shadow by the face with Shade's claws. "**TROMBE INTERRUPT.** VELVETS, HIT IT!"

The three of them started playing. I instantly recognized the opening notes of Through Fire and Flames.

_'Power of Rock indeed.'_

Fuck yes. I threw the Arcana Hermit off the stage. I only barely know the actual lyrics to this song.

_'I can help.'_

Works for me! "On a colder winter morning, in the time before the light~!" I threw my arms out with a sinister grin. "In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight~!"

I leapt of the stage and charged the shadow, punching it in the face before grabbing it and tossing it towards Shinjiro. "When the darkness has fallen down, and the times are tough all right~!"

Shinjiro, moderately surprised by my sudden singing, smashed the flat of his axe into the back of the shadow, sending it crashing to the ground a good distance away.

"The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight~!" Theodore decided to take over the vocals for me, or else I was going to wear myself out a LOT quicker. I'm not like that Seki dude from that Youtube video. "Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel, through the wastelands evermore~! The scattered souls will feel the hell, bodies wasted on the shore~!"

I have to wonder why they're helping me, much less how they know that song.

_'That's my fault.'_

What did you do?

_'Well, I've sorta been hanging out with them a lot while you sleep. Ya know, showin' 'em around town and stuff?'_

…And you decide to wait until now to tell me this?

_'It's not a big deal, is it?'_

How have you even been getting out of my head?

_'The siblings. They let me out, but I can't use any of my abilities. They're not entirely clueless.'_

Oh goody- DODGE THE KICK -My dark side is showing a group of magic blue elevator attendants around for shits and giggles.

_'Eyup.'_

Why is it you didn't feel like sharing this sooner?

_'Talk later, fight now.'_

Alright, fine.

"Through the fire and the flames we carry oooon~!" Theo's good, I'll give him that, though. Yay guitar bit.

"Palladion!" "Polydeuces!" "Nemesis!"

Oh yeah and everyone else is kicking ass right now. "Hey, Fuuka, does this Shadow have any resistances?"

_{It absorbs electrical attacks.}_ She told me. _{I already informed Ken-kun and Akihiko-senpai to avoid using Zio skills.}_

"Good to know, thanks." Switch to Cu Chulainn. "Persona!" **BANG** Power Charge GO! I charged towards the Hermit and punched it in the stomach, which actually sent it flying through the air and out into the street. I like Power Charge. I like it a lot.

Theo's still singing, by the way. Dude's got some good pipes. The Shadow staggered up just in time to have Mitsuru launch a Bufula at it, to which it responded by summoning lightning from the stage to zap itself. Oh, fucking HELL NO.

Aigis and Yukari apparently approved less of the damn things healing then I did and started launching attacks at it like crazy. One of Yukari's arrows slammed into Not-Rise's shoulder while most of Aigis' bullets tore into it in various places in the torso and legs.

Akihiko took that distraction to channel all his debuff spells into his gloves and run up to punch it in the face. He did a brutal combo attack and not only would have shattered its jaw if it was human, but sent it crashing to the ground.

Koromaru barked sharply, and we all knew what he was thinking.

"HIT IT WITH EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT!" I bellowed just in time for the EPIC THREE MINUTE GUITAR ROCK OUT part of the song.

Rather then the usual big ball of violence, I charged forward first, stomping on the Shadow's arm before grabbing it by the hair and pull it up before punching it in the face, sending it staggering right into a lunge from Koromaru, who left a huge gash on its chest.

Akihiko ran up and slammed into it with a flurry of punches, finally socking it in the face hard enough, from a channeled Sonic Punch no doubt, to send the Arcana Hermit flying at Shinjiro, who smashed it into the ground with his axe before using said axe to tennis swing the Shadow into the air for Yukari to snipe three times as it fell. Mitsuru was closest and started slashing away at it before she kicked it in the chest, sending it staggering back long enough for Ken to ram his spear into its chest, then hurl it over his shoulder with all his might for Aigis to catch it in the air, then forcibly make the Shadow's face impact the ground far, FAR harder then it would have otherwise.

The Guitar bit was over RIGHT as Aigis face smashed the shadow, which just left all of us in SEES(minus Junpei and Fuuka) crowding around this horribly wounded Shadow that was twitching weakly as it tried to get up. Yukari shot it in the head, then Mitsuru, Ken, and Koromaru stabbed it, Akihiko kicked it, Shinjiro buried his axe in its stomach, and I stomped on its face for the kill.

"Whew…" I sighed, looking over at the Velvet Trio. "Thanks for the music, you three!"

"You are very welcome, Master Roy." Elizabeth called back, waving as the stage vanished and they started back into the mall, likely to get back to the Velvet Room. "Have a pleasant evening!"

"Fortune."

I sighed again. "Those three are how I get new Personas, okay? They take my old ones and fuse them together, and they live in a magical blue elevator connected to an equally magical blue door that only Wild Cards can see and interact with." I looked back at Mitsuru. "Savvy?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Yamagishi, have you had any luck locating Iori?"

_{I think so…}_ She replied. _{He's back at the dorm, but something seems strange… The Chairman's there too, so he should be okay. But, let's hurry back just in case.}_

Strange…? I don't like that…

"Aigis."

"Yes, Roy-san?"

"You're with me. We're taking the express route back."

"Express route?" Shinjiro asked with an eyebrow.

I looked at him. "Rooftops."

* * *

I know this is serious, but jumping rooftops with the only other being capable of keeping up with you, especially when said being is an adorable blond robot girl, is fun. Especially when you can create instant rails of ice to grind on and use wind magic to jump again in the air. Sense when the hell could I do that, anyways?

_'You're starting to get the hang of the Wild Card.'_

Wait, huh?

_'Well, think about it. Igor said that your power, the Wild Card, is like the number zero. Empty, but holds infinite possibilities. Some of those have been showing up; Me, Multiple Personae, Channeling, the Claws, and making Skill Cards into explosives are just a few. Plus it's based on channeling your inner strength; basicly your determination.'_

So, what, I just have to BELIEVE I can get away with something and I can?

_'As you start getting more powerful, yeah.'_

Damn. That's cool.

_'Still got a limit, though. It's dependant on the Personas you have and what they can do.'_

Well yeah, there's gotta be a limit to the crazy. Else I'd be able to, I dunno, start making Personas on the fly and bending reality or some crazy bullshit like that. While yes, it would be awesome, that sorta takes the fun out of things. Especially once you realize you can just fucking will shit to NOT EXIST.

_'Very true. Unless reality decides to spite you and ramp the difficulty level up to "THIS BITCH MUST DIE", in which case you'll probably NEED insane reality skullfuckery just to SURVIVE.'_

Eyup. Anywho, back to roof hopping with Aigis! "How much farther to the dorm?"

"We will arrive within the next five minutes at our current pace."

"Shiny." Ice Rail Grind! "By the way, did that card help protect against the lightning?"

Aigis nodded. "Affirmative. I sustained far less damage then normal from the enemy's attacks."

"Also shiny." I grinned. "I'll have to make sure to get more cards for everyone else to use."

* * *

Okay, this is not good. I can see Junpei sitting on the roof, clearly tied up, but who's the… wait, that's Chidori! What in the hell?

"Roy-san, Junpei-san appears to be in danger!"

"I can see that." I replied. "Don't do anything crazy, we just need to grab her before anything happens."

"Understood." Aigis stated.

I leapt from the next door building and landed with a loud thud on the Dorm roof, Aigis following suit a few moments later. Chidori and Junpei turned their gazes towards us.

"Tch." She frowned, reaching into a pocket or something. "They're back already…?" What the… where the hell did she get that Evoker! "Medea, come…"

"Chidori, stop!" Junpei chose that moment to bust out of his restraints and tackle Chidori, knocking the evoker out of her hands and sending it skidding across the roof. I ran over and grabbed it as Junpei struggled with the girl, just in time for everyone else to barge in through the roof access door.

"Junpei?"

"No!" Wailed Chidori in a panic. "Give it back!"

"What the…?" Hi Sketchtsuki. "When did she…!"

"Sorry, Chidori." I told her as I stuffed the evoker into my pocket. "I'm gonna have to hold onto this for now."

That was the wrong thing to say, though, because she started freaking out a little more. "Medea!"

"I… I didn't sense her up until this very moment…" said Fuuka, seeming to be on the verge of tears. "This is my only power and yet…"

"If even Fuuka couldn't sense her, then she must have some sort of power to conceal her presence…" Noted the Chairman. "I didn't have the slightest clue she was here…"

That seems unlikely to me, unless Chidori can fuck with god damn security cameras. I'm staring right the hell at one.

"Are you a member of the group that goes by the name Strega?" Mitsuru asked Chidori. "I have a number of questions for you."

"I'm not…" she began. "Afraid… of dying…"

Junpei's eyes widened. "Ch-Chidori…?"

She looked in my direction. "M-Medea… I'm…"

"Clearly she's emotionally unstable." stated Mitsuru. "We'll let her rest, and save our questions for later."

I winced. There is something really, really off this girl's Persona. I'm ashamed I didn't notice when I saw her at the station. I looked over at Junpei.

"Chidori…" He said quietly. This probably shook him up. A lot.

* * *

Junpei's first order of business the next day was to raid the hospital Chidori was taken to. On the other hand, I went to see Akinari at the shrine. Mainly because I'd like to think I made this guy's last few months or weeks alive a little better by giving him someone to talk to.

"Hey there." I greeted as I approached him. He seemed surprised to see me.

"It's you…" He said as I plopped down on the bench. "You're… not like the others."

"Everybody's different." I told him. "There's just a certain level of difference that people consider the norm, as it were."

Akinari laughed slightly. "I honestly didn't expect you to come back." He smiled distantly. "Nobody treats me like a normal guy… not even my family. I can tell by how they look at me. The pity in their eyes is unmistakable." He sighed. "I don't need their sympathy any more than I need their curiosity." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but… I don't expect anyone to pity me." Akinari looked at me, slightly perplexed. "Dying isn't so unusual, is it? What is there to gain by staying in this world for a long time, anyway?"

"That's a good point." I admitted.

"…You must have a hopelessness festering inside you as well, then." He smiled. "I can't remember a time without it."

"Well, when you lose your parents in a car wreck at age six, it tends to affect you." I sighed. "I'm living proof of that."

"I see…" Akinari looked away for a moment, then back at me. "Hey, thanks for coming today." He smiled. "You don't seem like everyone else. I'm not sure I know how to describe it exactly, but… You don't look down on me the way everyone else does."

I smirked. "Well, I'm tall. I have to look down at everyone just to see their faces."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

Akinari laughed a little, then started coughing. "Damn it… what did I do to deserve this body?" He winced, then looked at me. "I hope we can meet again…"

I hope so too.

* * *

Yukari kidnapped me once I got back to the dorm.

"Hey, you know that girl we caught?" I nodded at her question. "Well, Junpei really seems to like her. What should we do?"

"Cheer him on." I said simply.

"Cheer him on, huh?" Yukari raised an eyebrow slightly, seeming confused. "But, what should I say…?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Figure it out."

* * *

Due to Mitsuru and Akihiko being hellbent on getting Chidori to talk, which strikes me as stupid because I'll bet my left sock Junpei would have better luck with getting her to say or do anything other then glare angrily, we probably won't be going to Tartarus for a while. Apparently they don't trust Shinjiro to keep the rest of us in line or something.

Next day I headed to Student Council again after class. Hidetoshi wanted my help with a presentation, and I was happy to help. Turns out he needed me as an example of how he thinks students SHOULDN'T wear their uniform. Don't hate me because I'm awesome, man. It's not cool.

"…So that's my review on the proper way to wear one's uniform." He finished. "Please keep these things in mind. I'm not trying to force anyone to change the way they dress; I would like to hear you opinion."

I heard a few people muttering to each other varying levels of surprise about Hidetoshi's speech.

After a little more discussion, the meeting was over. Hide and me were the only ones left in the council room.

"Thanks, Roy." He said to me. "I couldn't have done it without you." He winced at little. "Um… How'd I do?"

"Not bad." I smirked. "But there's always room to improve."

"If you say so…" Hide rubbed his neck. "Anyway, it's a big weight off my shoulders. I may have given people the impression that I'm selfish, but I'll win back their trust." He dug around in his pocket. "Look at this." He produced a sorta cheap looking Zippo lighter. "You know the cigarette butt in the bathroom? One of the guys fessed up." Hidetoshi smiled. "And you know what else? He promised me that he'll never smoke again. This lighter is proof of that." He looked down at it, turning it over in his hand. "I earned his trust by showing concern for others, just like you taught me." He tossed the lighter up a little, then caught it and handed it to me. "Here, I want you to have this."

"I'll hang onto it." I replied, taking it and sliding it into my pocket.

"Please, do." Hide nodded. "I've been looking down on people. But, you taught me an important lesson." He smiled again. "I don't think I'll ever compare to you, though."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… and I am thou…_

Wow, it's that time already?

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Emperor Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Odin, the ultimate form of the Emperor Arcana._

Holy shit, ODIN? Damn, that's even more metal then Thor.

"…Do you remember the story I told you?" Hidetoshi asked. "About the TV anchorwoman…?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"The man sent to prison was my father…" He said. "I see now that sincerity IS important, and I'm proud of myself for learning its true meaning." his mouth curved into a smile. "I also realized what an amazing man my father is…" He glanced up at the clock. "It's time to go home…" He looked back at me. "Wanna go somewhere? You know, we've never really hung out outside of school."

I rubbed my chin. "You've got a point there." I stood up and smirked. "Let's rectify that now."

* * *

And so Hidetoshi & Me killed the shit out of each other at the Arcade. It was great.

Headed back to the dorm after that, and Mitsuru and Akihiko were still out failing at talking to Chidori. The next couple of days didn't have anything special happen, though Shinjiro asked about how long we've been keeping Chidori in the hospital. I figured about four days and told him so.

Then I got kidnapped by Yukari and Fuuka before I could head upstairs.

"What the hell?" I growled once Yukari leg go of my shirt collar. "Ya damn near choked me to death!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby." She replied. "We need your help."

Eyebrow. "With what?"

"It's Aigis' birthday tomorrow." said Fuuka. "Well, more like activation day, but still."

I looked at them both in surprise. "It is?"

Yukari nodded. "We need you to keep her busy after school tomorrow so we can get everything ready for the party."

"Can do." I replied, saluting. "Now if you'll excuse me, Imma gonna hang with Koromaru."

I walked over to the little guy and he looked up at me expectantly, then nudged a ball in my direction with his nose.

I raised an eyebrow, then picked it up and smirked. "Fetch!" I chucked the ball towards the stairs and Koromaru took off after it like a gunshot. Damn he's fast. He even caught the ball in the air after it bounced off the wall, then brought it back.

I carefully took the ball from him and patted his head. "Good boy."

* * *

I ended up throwing it a bunch of times while Shinjiro just observed in silence. Fuuka eventually wandered over.

"Are you having fun, Koro-chan?" She asked as he came back to me with the ball in his mouth.

He barked in reply, dropping the toy in the process.

"Hey, Roy-kun, do you think Koro-chan is still young?" Fuuka asked as I picked up the ball.

"Probably." I commented. "Way to spry to be an old guy."

"I think so too. He's very agile." She giggled. "I asked Aigis the same question the other day. She said that even Koro-chan doesn't know his own age." She frowned slightly. "It makes sense though. I doubt Koro-chan has a sense of how many years and months it's been since he was born."

"I dunno…" I said. "He's smart. Probably got a rough idea, at the very least."

"I think the priest.. His old owner knew how old Koro-chan is…" Fuuka stated slightly sadly. "There must be a lot only he knew about." She bent over and scratched Koromaru's head. "I hope someday we can take the priest's place…"

I smirked and patted him on the head as well. Koro seemed to squint contently.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

Koro yawned, then slowly walked over to his usual spot and laid down. Little dude's got the right idea. Imma go to bed now. I gots a date with Aigis tomorrow.

_'Date?'_

Well, yeah. They need me to distracter her and stuff… y'know what? Shut up.

* * *

Author Notes - Cookie to who can guess how many stabs I took at the Fairly English Story in this chapter. I mean, yes, it is awesome and I do like it, but that's not to say I don't have issues with it. Plus taking stabs at some bits of it is fun. And hey! Roy's Wild Card is starting to let him get away with more crazyness! And Aigis was saved from lightning-y death by Skill Cards! Stuff like that will come up again, probably. I'm trying to not forget about any possible plot threads I've made. Anyone spot any that I may have forgotten? If you have, let me know in a review, please. Next Chapter will be Aigis' birthday bash and the Culture Festival-ruining Typhoon. Betcha can't wait for that, now can ya? :D


	31. Storm of Emotion

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**eggimiester** - I looked up breadfan. Actually rather epic, but I probably won't use it next time there is musical asskicking. And if you like the Arcana Hermit Rise, then you'd have liked one of my other ideas; Arcana Hermit Hatsune Miku. Yeah. That would've been nucking futs. As for the P4 Story, well, I'm not going to go into details apart from the fact I've finally decided on who will be the protaganist for it. As for who I decided on, you'll have to wait till I'm done with A Fool Named Fortune to find out(or at least everyone else will. mwehehehe)

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - Actually, I've made refrences too and taken pot shots and stabs at the Fairly English Story all over the place because some parts of it are just too damn funny. Like Roy quoting the "NO! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Yukari fanboy when he started her Social Link.

**Abyss of Essence** - In responce to your chapter 29 review: Well, cool. Then go for it. And yes, Aigis is win and I really wanted to put that bit with her talking about the 'chickfest' because I can. Roy's means of sneaking Koro in is just a variation on the actual version in P3:FES/P3P where it's claimed the Protags try to pass him off as a toy and fail at it. Roy just went with a more realistic one(because why would a guy bring a stuffed dog with him into a theater?). As for the October 4th Trio, Roy has his suspicions but sadly I don't think he's going to figure out anything's up until it's too late. It'd be a nightmare to completely rewrite that entire sequence of events, but I think the Shinjiro fans who read this will like what I have planned.

**Imbecile862** - Still reviewing my earlier chapters? Jeez, man. You don't have to drop a review bomb so much. Just read the whole thing, THEN drop a review. It's kinda weird to have somebody reviewing chapter 16 when chapter 30 is up. But whatever, I don't mind.

And now, on with the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Interesting detail I found out in class today? The standard American gesture to shoo somebody away means 'come here' in Japan. Also, Hamuko decided to pester me at lunch.

"Hey, Roy-kun?" She asked. "I've been thinking… Don't you think Aigis-chan seems different somehow?"

Oh shit she's onto us. Try to play it off and sound moderately offended. "Different how?"

"D-Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she's a weirdo or anything!" Hamuko panicked slightly, then frowned. "She seems like… a doll. When I see her, I'm reminded of a clothing store mannequin."

Yeah, shit, she's onto Aigis. LIE LIKE CRAZY. "You're just imagining things. She's just got really stiff posture is all."

Hamuko giggled. "Yeah, I though so." She sighed and shook her head, then stood up straight and puffed out her chest proudly. "Well, I'm off to go see Aragaki-senpai!" She started away. "See ya later, Roy-kun!"

I wonder if she's making any progress with him…

* * *

I stretched my arms over my head as class ended later. Lord that was boring. Junpei was already out of his seat and gone by the time I moved to pack up.

"Junpei-san went to the hospital." Aigis noted. "He seemed eager to get there." She looked at me. "Has the questioning been going smoothly?"

I smirked slightly. "Junpei's making progress."

"Do I detect an underlying meaning?" She asked, doing her head tilt. "Is there something between her and Junpei-san that I am not aware of?" She did a sort of pouting expression. "I am confused."

She's adorable when she's confused.

"Well, don't worry about it." I told her. "You want to come to the mall with me?"

Aigis kept her head tilted. "Is there something important going on?"

I shook my head. "Nah, just thought you might like a break."

"A… break?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Relax a little. Do something fun." I smirked. "That okay with you?"

Aigis thought for a moment, then smiled. "I would enjoy that."

I smiled as well. "Shiny."

* * *

So once we actually got to the Mall, Aigis 'n me went into the Arcade. I have a somewhat cunning plan to solve the problem of Aigis' stiffness.

"What sort of game is this?" She asked as we approached the DDR machine in the Arcade.

"This…" I began as I stepped onto the machine. "Is Dance Dance Revolution, often referred to as DDR for short. It's a rhythm game."

Aigis did her head tilt. "Rhythm game?"

I nodded. "You see the arrows?" I indicated them on the currently unoccupied spot next to me. "You step on them in the order shown on the screen at the proper time while you dance in rhythm with a song that's being played."

"What is the cue to move to an arrow?" she asked.

"See the little demo video playing on the screen?" I pointed at it. "You step on the arrow that matches the colorful ones when they get to the transparent ones at the top, using the rhythm of the music to help you move smoothly."

Aigis stepped onto the other dance pad and carefully eyed the arrows, then the screen, then looked at me in slight confusion.

"Okay, you know what…" I popped a few coins into the machine. "I'll show you, so just watch."

* * *

Okay, yeah, I kinda suck at DDR. I just picked the first song that sounded interesting to me. It was this one called Dynamite Rave, and I did okay, but I don't play this very often so meh.

"I see…" Aigis nodded slowly. "I would like to attempt it now."

I shrugged. "Alright."

I popped some coins in for her and let her pick a song. She went with this one called "Ladies Night" and I'll admit, it has a good beat. However, she really is stiff in her motions, which is especially noticeable on her misses. Once she finished, she seemed kind of down about it. I sighed and shook my head.

"Okay Aigis, for your first time playing, that was pretty good." I patted her on the shoulder. "Your problem is that your moments are very stiff, which is actually part of the reason I wanted to play this game. Hamuko Arisato noticed that as well and talked to me about it, so we're going to try using this to help you out to lower the chance of people not in SEES figuring out you're not human."

I popped coins into the machine and started a doubles game.

"So." I looked at her with a smile. "Which song you want to try first?"

* * *

Four hours and a lot of yen later, Aigis' movements were much more natural.

"Thank you, Roy-san." She said as we moved away from the DDR machine, smiling. "That was most enjoyable."

"You're welcome, Aigis." I replied, smiling as well. It was money well spent.

Her attention then seemed to shift past me. "What is that?"

I followed her gaze. "Oh hey, I didn't know they had pool tables in here."

Aigis looked at me curiously. "Pool tables?"

"Yeah." I walked over to one. "It's another kind of game. And no, I have no idea why it's called pool, it just is."

She joined me next to the table. "How do you play?"

* * *

I recounted what little I actually knew of the rules to her, and now s- "No, no, that's not how you hold the cue stick." She was holding it with one hand like it was a stick you intended to poke someone with, by the way. "Here, let me help."

I stood next to Aigis and helped her into the proper stance you'd use, with the arm drawn back and leaning over and everything. I wonder what they used to make the fake skin on Aigis' face, because it's surprisingly soft…

_'Focus.'_

Oh yeah, right. "Now, draw your arm back carefully, then…" **CLACK** "Shoot. Got it?"

"I comprehend." She replied.

"Good." I moved back. "Now, take your next shot."

Aigis carefully paced around the table, likely looking for the best angle to shoot from. Eventually she settled over and WOW she has nice curves I mean really I know she's a robot but wow

_'Quit oggling her ass. Show some restraint, you're in public.'_

Shut up Shade.

* * *

A few rounds of pool or so later(I didn't bother counting because I don't even know) my phone went off. I pulled it out and opened it to re- "Okay, what the hell?"

Aigis looked over at me. "Is something wrong?"

"I dunno." I replied, raising my eyebrow in confusion as I looked at the text message. "Yukari just sent me a message that reads 'You, Aigis, Dorm, NOW'. I think she might be angry." Everything must be ready.

"It would be wise to return to the dorm if that is indeed the case." She stated, putting her pool cue back on the holder thing on the wall.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's get going." I put my cue on the holder as well. "I'd like to keep my limbs in working order."

Aigis actually seemed to giggle a little at that comment.

* * *

"This is unusual…" Aigis commented as we approached the dorm. "The interior lighting is not active…"

"That is weird…" I agreed. I'm going to assume Fuuka was channeling Lucia's scanning ability so she could sense us coming. "But it would explain why Yukari wanted us back so soon."

We got up the steps, then opened the door a-

"SURPRISE!"

I smirked as the lights came on and Junpei and Fuuka fired off little confetti popper things. I note that Shinjiro is hauling in the cake and is wearing a rather hilarious apron. Seriously, I never pegged Shinjiro for wearing a 'Kiss the cook' apron. Must've been a gift or something. Wait, what's with that bruise on his face?

"Happy Birthday, Ai-chan!" Junpei said with a grin. He seems happier then usual.

"I am a machine." Aigis started. "I was not born."

"So?" I smiled. "Doesn't mean we don't want to celebrate the day you were created."

Aigis looked at me and seemed to blink in surprise, then smiled. "Very well."

"That's the spirit!" I patted her on the shoulder, then looked over at Shinjiro. "Hey, what kinda cake is that?"

"Marble. Chocolate and Vanilla."

Oh HELL YES.

* * *

One party and two slices of cake apiece(Except me who took three because Aigis didn't want another) later, most everyone else had gone to bed. If not, they were still up in their rooms about ten minutes away from falling into a food coma till the next morning, which left myself and Aigis alone with me semi-laying on one of the sofas and her in the chair near my head.

"So…" I began slowly, my hat slightly lopsided on my head as I looked over at her. "Did you have fun, Aigis?"

She nodded. "It was enjoyable." Her expression fell slightly. "However… tonight felt… strange."

I raised an eyebrow and sat up slightly. "Strange how?"

Aigis shook her head. "I cannot word it…"

I frowned for a second, then looked back at her. "Maybe you're just happy?"

She looked at me for a moment, her expression slightly blank before her lips slowly curled into a happy smile.

_'Yeah, she's too cute for her own good.'_

About damn time you admitted it.

_'Shaddup.'_

"Roy-san, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What is the date you were born?"

I smirked. "January Twenty-First."

Aigis nodded. "I will be sure to remember."

* * *

I went to bed after that with a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest. Shade decided to try and be a prick about it but I wasn't having any of that shit.

The next day… was September Eleventh. I try not to think about what happened back in the US that day. I did so by thinking about Aigis because she's adorable. I hung out with Andre, but nothing much happened. Day after that, Fuuka wanted to talk to me after school so now we're on the roof again.

"I want to apologize for the way I acted the other day…" She began. "I've been thinking a lot about how I feel, since then… Whenever I begin to waver about something, I immediately start thinking negatively…" She looked back at me. "I often wonder what your thought process is when you have to make an important decision…"

"Rather simple, to be honest." I admitted. "Though I can't say for sure because I don't think I've made any decisions that could count as really important…"

"I see…" Fuuka murmured. "I've been thinking about this for a long time… No one knows what the future holds… No matter how prepared you are, you can't predict what will happen." She turned around to face me. "So, the only thing you can do is 'believe'. You have to think positively, as if the future is smiling upon you." Her expression fell. "I don't think I'm quite there yea, though…" She sighed. "Sorry… You seem to know all that already…" She looked back up at me. "So, Roy-kun… Why are you always so positive?"

"I never really thought about it." I shrugged, walking over and standing next to Fuuka. She turned and looked out at the city as well. "So I can't really say."

"I see…" She nodded slowly. "So, it just comes naturally to you…" She fidgeted nervously and took a small step back. "I… I'm attracted to that quality in a guy…"

Wait what

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

Okay, shit, this could be bad….

_'LOOK OUT CAPTAIN! ICEBERG AHEAD!'_

That's something I'd expect from Pharos.

_'…Why Pharos?'_

I dunno, it just strikes me as something he'd say.

_'Dude, we only see him like, twice every month!'_

This is true, but eh. Need to focus!

"I'm sorry, Fuuka…" I told her. "I don't feel that way about you."

"I see…" She said slowly, looking away from me. "The reason why I was so confused before was… I thought that after I paid everyone back for their kindness… I wouldn't have anything to talk with you about…" Fuuka turned slightly so she was only half facing me. "But, now I know that doesn't matter…" She reached up to wipe away a tear. "I… I wanted to be with you, Roy-kun…"

I smiled. "Well, I dunno how much this'll mean to you, but… You're kind of like the little sister I never had."

She looked at me, clearly puzzled.

"I'm an only child." I stated. "But when I was little, I'd see brothers and sisters playing together at the park and stuff. I was kinda jealous, really. I wanted to know what it was like to have a sibling." I laughed a little. "Does that seem weird?"

Fuuka shook her head. "Not at all."

I smiled again. "Thanks. You gonna be okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah…" She smiled again. "I feel a little better." She started away. "Well, I'm going back to the dorm now. I'll see you later, Roy-kun."

I waved at her. "See ya later, Fuuka."

* * *

After that, I decided to see what'd happen if I gave the Antique store lady my Cu Chulainn to stuff into a nihil weapon(making sure to register him first so I could get him back) and she said she'd probably be able to craft Gae Bolg, the guy's mythical trademark spear.

I want to see what kind of ass Ken can kick with that thing now. I asked her to deliver it to the Dorm when it was ready, then gathered everyone up for a Tartarus run. Elizabeth decided to use the Velvet Brain Door Shade has to let us know about the path opening up in Tartarus this time around, but we let her know we kinda figured that seeing as they always open up after Arcana Shadows, she didn't really need to tell us anymore.

Anyways, takin' Aigis, Mitsuru, and Ken up this time. We've got a pretty big group now that I think about it, so I'm thinkin' about suggesting five-person teams here after tonight. It'll probably help keep everyone in top form that way.

Also, the new section of Tartarus is weird. Well, not really weird, just… SHINY. Like, just about goddamn everything is made of freaking gold. Or at least stuff that looks like gold. One of my punches missed this stupid Samurai shadow and hit a wall, but it didn't do a damn thing. Real gold would've dented. Seriously though, fuck those samurai shadows. Fuuka called 'em Hakurou Mushas, and apparently they have insane physical attack dodging skills in addition to wicked Slash-type attacks. Unfortunately for the Shadows, Fuuka also pointed out that Hama and Mudo will kill them dead in a big hurry, so Ken went to town on them whenever they showed up.

Other fun times were had when we found TANKS. Yeah. Shadows that look like tanks. Chariot Arcana, too. The liked to try running us over or self-Tarukaja-ing and trying to blast us with the cannon. They nullified Aigis' bullets and strike attacks, but not Slashing attacks and were weak to Zio, so Mitsuru and Ken got to have fun shredding them while Aigis 'n Me got to beat seven shades of shit out of these floating spell caster shadows that had weird paper cubes floating around them and these weird killer ladies on sofas shadows. It's great.

Eventually we got up to the next group of Tartarus Guardians. Bigger, badder versions of the Tank Shadows we'd found earlier. They were mostly the same, except weak to ice instead of lightning. Aigis was stuck supplying the group with kajas while we spammed ice and lightning on them. Headed back down after that and I snagged Akihiko, Yukari, and Junpei and we headed up again, though it was from the floor we started on that night up the floor we just cleared of a guardian. I wanted to do another run with Shinji and Koro, but we were low on time I just decided to take 'em up next trip. On the way back to the dorm I ran my Five-person teams suggestion by Mitsuru, and she agreed it might work better.

"Hi, it's been a while."

Oh yeah, and Pharos was waiting for me when I got back to my room at the dorm. Dark Hour still had about five minutes to go. "Hey yourself, little buddy."

"Three seasons have pass since we met…" He commented nostalgically. "Time goes by so quickly, and many things change."

"But the more things change, the more they stay the same." I commented.

Pharos chuckled. "I suppose that's one way of looking at things." He frowned and looked out the window. "Talking with you has stirred up certain memories… That tower, for instance. I've been thinking about it a lot lately… I wonder, will our relationship stay the same..? Or will it evolve…?"

I shrugged as I pulled on my pajamas. "Who knows."

"No matter what the future holds, you and I will be friends." He smiled. "That is for certain."

I smirked. "Glad to hear it, Pharos."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana._

"Well, see you later." He said, waving at me before disappearing through the wall just before the Dark Hour ended. Shame he couldn't stick around. Anywho, sleep tiem for Roy is now…

* * *

I headed up to the shrine the next day to talk to Akinari. It's basicly my Sunday routine now, and I don't mind it. It's nice to just relax and talk to someone, especially after Tartarus runs.

"Mornin' Akinari." I greeted as I sat down.

"Good morning, Roy-san." He said before he started coughing violently.

"Whoa, hey, you gonna be okay?" I asked, putting a concerned hand on his shoulder and slyly channeling a Diarama into him.

"It's… starting to settle down, I think…" He sighed, then smiled at me. "Thank you for coming. It's better when I'm not alone."

"No problem." I smirked, taking my hand of his shoulder. Yay Dia.

"Why do I have to face this alone?" asked Akinari, gazing up at the sky. "Other people don't have to deal with this sickness. I won't ever walk through a sunny field again because my legs and heart can't handle it." He sighed, his gaze dropping. "All that's left is to draw my sheets around me and count the beats of my heard until they stop forever. Why is this only happening to me?"

"I kinda wondered the same thing when my parents died." I said. "It's like the local deity hates your guts."

"No kidding…" Akinari chuckled darkly. "Pretty twisted sense of humor, isn't it?" He frowned. "There's no reason to it at all! I was chosen at random." He shook his head quickly. "That's the worst part. There isn't any logic to it. Just random selection." He looked up at the sky again. "I wish I could run away, but if my body was capable of that, I wouldn't be here anyway… No matter what I do, my body is here to remind me… I'm going to die. And there's nothing I can do!"

He started coughing violently again.

"Akinari!" I grabbed his shoulder again, pumping Diarama into him again. Also a few Taru, Suku, and Rakukajas to bolster his strength.

"Please don't leave… just yet…" He pleaded once his coughing fit died down a little. "When I'm alone… it feels like it could end at any second."

"I'm not going anywhere just yet." I told him. "Try not to talk so much, okay?"

"I know but…" He coughed again. "I'd like to talk… for a little bit longer." Akinari sat up straight again. "I am feeling… a little better… so, thank you…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

I smiled. "You're welcome."

* * *

We chatted until it started getting dark, then parted ways. Next day, I got a mind bomb on the way to school. Apparently the big Culture Festival is coming up, but there's also a Typhoon coming. I've never actually been in a Typhoon myself, but honestly, Seattle can get SO much worse durring the average random rainstorm. I say BRING IT ON.

At lunch, Akihiko asked if I wanted to hang with him after school, and we ended up going to Wild Duck Burger after a lot of running. There was a kid bein' really noisy, but Aki didn't seem to mind so neither did I. After a the kid left, he got really quiet, though.

"Hey, Roy…" He asked suddenly. "Do you think I'm… strange?"

I laughed. "Dude, if you're strange, what the hell does that make me?" I shook my head. "Honestly, you seem pretty normal to me. Why?"

"It's nothing, just…" he frowned slightly. "Sometimes people tell me that I'm a weird guy, or that I act kind of strange… Normally, I wouldn't let that kind of thing get to me…" He winced a little. "But, back in the day, they'd say I was like that because I didn't have parents."

"Not like you could've done anything about that." I commented.

"That's true." agreed Akihiko. "And I wanted to show them that they were wrong." He lightly shook his head. "Ah, none of that matters now. It all happened back when I was a kid anyway… It's not like the orphanage was bad either…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Orphanage?"

"Oh right, I never mentioned it…" he chuckled to himself a little. "I don't have any parents. My sister and I grew up in an orphanage." His expression fell slightly. "But she's long gone, too…"

I winced. That's… rough. "I can almost relate. Y'know, with my own parents passing away."

"Oh, right… Sorry to bring it up."

I laughed a little. "Nah, it's cool. It's nice to know there's people who can understand you, don't ya think?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it is."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

I leaned back in my seat slightly. "Y'know, only three shadows are left for us to stomp on."

"Yeah, and the next one won't come for another three weeks." Akihiko frowned a bit. "Man, why can't they just come all at once?"

"That…" I began slowly. "Would be a pain. And we should be careful with this next one anyways."

He raise an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

I looked at him. "Next up should be Fortune. Fate and such plays into that, so it might have some crazy abilities. Could get worse if Strength is there with it."

"I see what you mean…" He nodded slowly. "But, with more people now, it should be easier to defeat them." He smirked. "I can't wait for the next full moon."

I laughed a little. Good ol' Aki.

* * *

Nothing much happened till I stopped by Fashion Club the next day. Andre was having trouble with his sewing machine about ten minutes after I got there. Hamuko was, again, nowhere around. Then again, she doesn't show up on Tuesdays because she goes to tennis. Speaking of which, I should either show up soon or just quit the team… I've kinda been neglecting it since school started back up.

"I don't get it…" Andre griped in english. "Why won't this sewing machine go?"

"If it's givin' ya trouble, take a break, Andre." I told him, stopping my work on… whatever the hell I'm making. I can never freaking tell, I just sew stuff.

"Yeah… that's a good idea." He agreed, nodding slightly. "I'm kinda worried about my uncle… I dunno how to convince him to let me stay here!" He sighed, then put his hand on his chin. "Maybe if I become a samurai, I could stand up to him…"

I raised an eyebrow. I do not want to imagine the havoc he could unleash upon the world if he learned how to use a sword. I already suspect him of being a Crouching Moron Hidden Badass because of the fact he's French, I don't need to know if I'm right or not.

"Ah, I know!" Andre proclaimed suddenly. "Maybe if we go to ze Sweet Shop and 'ave a snack, I can come up wiz a plan!" I find it hilarious how he'll just randomly shift between English and Japanese during conversations. At least he doesn't slip into languages I DON'T speak, or else I'd have to start hitting him with something. "Shall we?"

I shrugged. "Sure. I could use a donut."

"Well, zen let's go!"

* * *

"I 'ave zought about zis even in my dreams…" Andre began once we got our snacks at the shop. "I will be disappointed if I 'ave to return to my country! I want to stay here in Japan even if I have to eat dirt!"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Nom. Damn good donut.

Andre grinned. "I have a plan. I'll return home at first, just like my uncle wants, but then I'll come back after I persuade him to let me! I just have to figure out how to explain it to him, though…"

"Hey, I can probably help."

"You will?" He asked, seemingly surprised. "That'd be great! It'll be easy with your help, Roy-sama!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

Andre looked out the window. "Ze sun is setting…"

Whoa, holy shit, he's right. "Yeesh, I better get going before Mitsuru-senpai sends out a search party." I stood up, scarfing down the last of my donut. "Catch ya later, Andre!"

"I will see you again, Roy-sama!"

* * *

Next morning, the gossipy nut balls at the school gate caught my attention again.

"Hey, did you hear?" One of them asked excitedly. "Yukari is going to dress up as a maid for a café in the Culture Festival?"

WHAT.

"Wait, are you serious?" Asked his flabbergasted friend. "Why? What happened?"

"I heard she drew the short straw in Archery Club!" The first guy replied. "She's gonna be pissed, but that's all the more reason to check out the café!"

I must process the mental image of Yukari dressed as a maid.

…

I think I've just lost the ability to find maids sexy.

_'I can fix that.'_

How?

_'Aigis. Maid costume.'_

…Squee.

_'Only problem is getting her to actually wear one.'_

Damn, that's a good point… Oh well, it's a nice image.

* * *

I opted to hang out with Yukari after school to lessen the likelihood of her flying into a berserk rage at the dorm. I think she was kinda grateful for it.

"Why do I have to wear a maid outfit?" She whined as we crossed the street near the Iwatodai Strip mall. "Why me? It's just not right!"

"I agree." Though for reasons different then yours.

"I'm so embarrassed! I feel like running away!" She shook her head. "Ugh, forget it…" She looked at me. "So, where did you wanna go?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Bookstore?"

"Um, going to the bookstore is kinda lame…" Yukari stated. "Let's go somewhere else."

Well aren't you little miss snippy?

"Wait, lemme see how much money I have…" She started feeling around her pockets. "Oh no! Where's my wallet? D-Did I drop it…?"

"You had it back at the station, didn't you?"

"Yeah, when I pulled out my ticket…" Her eyes lit up. "Wait, someone bumped into me right outside the station. Sorry, I'm gonna go back there and look around. It'll just take a minute, so wait here, okay?" She gave me a slight glare. "I'll be fine, so don't come after me. I'll be right back!"

She scampered off and I still have to wonder how she can run in that skirt. Must be fuckin' magic or something.

* * *

After about twenty minutes, I opted to go look for her. It cannot take that long to find a damn wallet. I got to the station and there were three guys surrounding Yukari. And SHIT, they look like the dudes from that place behind the station back in June!

"You better shut your mouth, bitch!" growled one of them. "We still owe you for what you did a while back!"

"Hey, can I get a piece of that, bro?" chimed in one of the other guys.

Oh hell no. I charged forward at the three of them, channeling a Power Charge into myself before I slammed my shoulder into one of the thugs, sending him flying into a nearby wall and knocking him out.

"Well hello there." I said, cracking my knuckles. "Remember me?"

"You!" Barked the first guy. Hey, it's the dude who me and Shinjiro beat the crap out of! "Oh, I'm gonna tear you apar-"

He never got to finish his sentence, because I punched him in the jaw, then caught his buddy's clumsy haymaker and used it to throw him into the first guy. The guy I punched shoved his pal off him, then tried to stagger up but I kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him out. The only one conscious was the guy I used as a flail, but that didn't last long because he fainted when he saw me boot his boss in the head. Wuss.

I turned back to Yukari as I stepped away from the now unconscious thugs. "You okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Thanks…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

Not important.

"But…" Yukari winced. "You got a little carried away…"

I only used channeling to bring down that first guy. Granted, if I hadn't been careful, I probably would have imbedded him into the wall, but still!

"Hey, why'd you come after me?" She snarled suddenly. "Didn't I say to wait? Do you think it's funny? I god my wallet by myself! I didn't need your he-"

"So what, I'm just supposed to stand back there waiting and find out an hour later you got gang raped by a bunch of punks?" I snapped. "I don't fucking think so! Some thanks I get for saving you!" I turned and started off. "Forget it, I'm goin' back to the dorm…"

I didn't even wait for her to respond.

* * *

Nothing happened at the dorm apart from more worrying about the Typhoon. The next day at lunch, Yukari kidnapped me and dragged me up to the roof.

"Hey… About yesterday…" She began. "Sorry I got so mad at you when you came to help me… I don't like having to depend on other people. I wanted to take care of it myself…" She sighed. "But I ended up needing your help." Yukari turned around to face me. "I never told you this… but I was really glad you came." She blushed slightly. "I don't think I could say this to anyone else, Roy… but, thanks for your help. I really appreciate it."

I shrugged and smirked. "Anytime." I winced. "And uh, sorry I snapped at you. I just have a tendency to worry about my friends." I laughed a little. "Especially everyone at the dorm."

Yukari giggled a little. "Tryin' to play it cool, eh?"

I shrugged again. "And likely failing miserably."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

…That was oddly quick. I'm still kinda mad at her for being stupid back then, but given how her mind works, I can probably let it slide.

"Whew!" She exclaimed suddenly. "That's a big weight off my shoulders… We should probably get back to class now."

"Yeah, you kinda dragged me away from my lunch." I griped. "I swear to god if Junpei stole it, I'm going to bring a video camera to the culture festival and get you on film!"

"Roy!"

"I'm kidding! Jeez…" I'd sooner gouge out my own eyes with a rusty spork.

* * *

I went to Art club after school, but Keisuke wasn't around so I didn't get to find out how that bet with his dad was goin'. On the way back to the dorm, I remembered my pre-order on the PS3 Tales of Vesperia and headed to the game store to pick it up along with a PS3. I was lucky there was one console left by the time I got there. Probably won't play it right away, but whatever.

Got back to the dorm and Aigis warned me about the Typhoon and that we should secure the dorm windows and stuff. Taking her advice, I locked the window in my room tight and pulled out my Anti-Seattle Rain Coat that I made sure to pack before I came to Japan just in case and set it on my chair to take to school with me tomorrow. I also set out my boots, seein' as I figure I'll need 'em.

Next morning saw some clouds looming on the horizon, so I left my fedora on my desk, put on my bucket hat and threw on my heavy jacket and boots before I headed to school. I got some weird looks from other students, but to piffle with them. I am prepared for this.

* * *

The storm was in full force shortly after school let out. I'm so glad this coat has a hood and is generally freaking awesome. Then again, it's made in Seattle, aka Mother Nature's bitch when it comes to weather.

And for a big typhoon with a lot of panic about it, this thing isn't that bad. It's basicly Tuesday for the average Seattle-dweller. Kinda windy, but I've had worse. Seattle rainstorms can be nasty buggers. This? This is nothing.

* * *

I got back to the dorm slightly late. I looked like a wet dog somewhat, but I'll be fine. I'm resilient when it comes to this shit.

"You weren't quick enough, huh?" Junpei chuckled as I unzipped my massive jacket.

"Pfft, you should see the average rainy day back where I lived in America." I told him as I pulled the coat off. "This storm ain't got nothing on the crap they get in Seattle."

"According to the news, that typhoon they were talking about just hit." Fuuka stated as I approached. "Supposedly, it's the biggest on record. It's moving slowly, too, so it'll be around for a while."

Junpei sighed. "Yeah, thanks to that, the school festival got canned… Well, setting all that stuff up is a pain, so I don't mind." He sighed again. "But, it sucks that we'll be stuck indoors…" He looked at me. "So, how are you gonna spend your break?"

I shrugged. "Nothing special. Probably just chill out around the dorm."

Junpei looked over at Fuuka. "What about you, Fuuka?"

"Me?" She blinked. "The only thing I plan to do is go to the movies…"

"Oh, a movie?" He grinned. "Is it a date…?"

"It-It's not like that. I'm going with Natsuki-chan." Fuuka replied quickly. "She absolutely loves movies… but with this typhoon, I don't know if we'll be able to go…"

"How 'bout you, Yuka-tan? Will ya still have practice?"

Yukari rolled her eyes at Junpei's question. "I doubt it. The archery range is outside, so it's most likely canceled until the storm blows over."

"Same here." chimed in Akihiko. "This stupid typhoon is gonna mess up my training."

"What about you, Senpai?" Junpei turned his attention to Mitsuru.

"I haven't decided." She replied. "Besides, what business is it of yours, Iori?"

"Me?" He grinned. "Well, I'd be happy to tell you about my plans…"

"Raise your hand if you think he's going to visit Chidori at the hospital." I said, holding up my right arm. Everyone else, even Mitsuru, Shinji, and Aigis followed suit. "Thank you."

Everyone put their arms down as Junpei shrugged slightly.

"Whatever, so it's obvious. But ya know what?" He grinned. "She WANTS me to come! Not to brag or anything… I, um… just thought I should check up on her… ya know, with the storm and all."

Akihiko shook his head at muttered something.

"Umm… well… Oh, yeah! Ken-kun." Fuuka looked over at the kid in question. "What are you going to do during the break?"

"Oh, nothing in particular…" He replied.

"Come on…" Junpei prodded. "You have to be doing something."

"Well, I'll probably go visit the shrine."

Junpei raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you're a kid, not an old man."

"But, that's where I always go." Ken replied with a slight frown. "I guess you could say I made a vow…" He shook his head slightly. "Anyway, I'm going back to my room. I have a lot of homework to do…"

"Oh, okay." Junpei nodded as Ken started towards the stairs. "Call me if you get stuck!"

"And call me when he gets stuck!" Added Yukari.

I gotta admit, that was actually funny. But eh.

"Hey, Roy-kun, are you okay?" Fuuka asked. "Your legs are all wet…"

I laughed. "Please, it'll take more then a little rain to bring me down. Like I said, this is nothing compared to stuff I've seen back home. Only thing different is it's windier."

"Are you certain you will be alright?" Mitsuru looked at me uneasily.

I dismissively waved my head. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Probably gonna go to bed a little early anyways."

* * *

I headed up to my room shortly after that. Changed into some more comfortable clothes and tossed my soaked school jeans in the corner, then went to bed a little early. I woke up for no reason at about one in the morning, then just sorta lied in bed. I heard a clicking sound, then my door opened and someone came in and shut it behind them.

"Door unlocked in Ninety-Two seconds…" Aigis? "My time has improved."

I didn't move as I heard her walk across the room. I felt her lean on my bed a little.

"Surface body temperature reads… Ninety-Eight point seven degrees… No sign of a fever…" She reported aloud. "It would seem his assumptions were correct… the storm did not affect him adversely. I am glad."

I smirked slightly.

"…I mustn't stay too long, or Yukari-san will reprimand me again…" Aigis commented sadly, turning to leave. She took a few steps, then stopped. "…There are still four hours and twelve minutes until sunrise…" She hummed slightly. "I need only sneak out again before morning."

I my smirk widened into a smile as I heard her move over and sit down near my bed, watching me.

"I…" Aigis began. "Will keep watch over him for a little longer…"

"Thanks Aigis…" I whispered.

Ya know, I like how she's been getting slowly more human. Displaying worry like this, and happiness on her birthday. And I like how adorable she is…

…

No… It's more like I love how she's been slowly becoming more human. I love how adorable she is.

I… love Aigis…

…

I… never expected to fall in love, much less with a machine, but fuck that. Machine or not, she's got a mind, she's got a heart, she has feelings, she has a soul, and damn it I love her. Love is love, her being a robot shouldn't matter. No, it DOESN'T matter. Not to me.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

…That's twice now this link has reacted without the Reaper around. I'm gonna have to pester Igor about that next time I see him.

I rolled over in my bed and opened one eye slightly. Aigis was staring at me with a small smile on her lips. I smiled slightly as well, closing my eye as I let myself drift off into peaceful slumber.

* * *

Author Notes - Say it with me now! D'AWWW~! And to make all the adorable fluffyness of this chapter better? I specificly waited to post it today. Why today? It's Roy's birthday, Janurary 21st(which is also the day Chidori revives if you trigger the event in the Journey mode of P3:FES or P3P to add some irony to things). And yeah, Seattle does get some freaking CRAZY weather. Maybe not worse then a typhoon, but it gets pretty bad sometimes. The morons who drive the roads around here just make it freaking worse. And the Tower link acts up again! Think Roy can get Igor to spill the beans about it? Find out in the next chapter. Things are gonna get a wee bit crazier from here on out.


	32. Games, a Party, and Wesker Fu with Ham

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Imbecile 862** - Roy's taste in games is actually somewhat based off my own. I actually HAVE the games he's mentioned he plays and enjoy them. It's one of those incidental character traits that are just there for the hell of it and aren't vastly important or anything. And to answer your other question, no, Roy has not been doing the Elizabeth dates. I never did them myself, so I decided not to include them, and because by the time I thought about it I'd already passed the game date that you could do the first one and just opted to skip them all together.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - You're close on the deal with the Tower Link. All shall be revealed in the Max Link event! As for the Tartarus Rescues, I don't like that particular part of P3P so I'm not including it. And the Velvet Requests have been mentioned, he just stopped bringing up the fact he's doing them at this point. They'll likely get mentioned again before the story is completed.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

Haven't had this dream in a while. Hello Velvet Room door.

"I have been waiting for you." Igor grinned as I strolled over and sat down as Shade came in through his door. "I last summon you in your dreams quite some time ago. Several seasons have come and gone since I first offered my assistance… Now then, your special power- Persona… Have you been using it wisely?"

"I'd like to think I have." I replied. "But I can't say for sure."

"I see…" The master of the velvet room nodded. "Well, at least your candor is a sign of maturity. To be perfectly honest, I sense a great catastrophe in your future." Igor's eyes sparkled slightly. "But, it would be a pity to lose one such as yourself unnecessarily… Therefore, please allow me to provide you with a new form of assistance. Henceforth, you shall be able to fuse four or more Personas." His grin widened. "I am certain that this will be of great benefit to you."

I smirked. "Indeed." My expression turned serious. "But before you kick me back to my body, I need to talk to you."

Igor seemed genuinely curious. "What is it that is troubling you, my young friend?"

"The Tower Arcana Social Link." I said, cutting right to the chase. "I've had it strengthen twice recently and the Reaper wasn't around for either of them. What the hell is going on with it?"

"You recall you bond of the Chariot Arcana, correct?"

Eyebrow. "With Rio and Kaz? What about it?"

"Your Tower Arcana bond is similar." Igor told me. "It connects with more then just the Reaper."

"More…?" I scratched my head. "You mean someone else? Like Aigis and Ms. Toriumi?"

"If that is what you wish to believe, I shall not stop you." His grin widened.

I sighed. "Of course you wouldn't." I shook my head. "Well, whatever. Anything else I should no?"

"No, that is all." Igor replied. "But for now, I shall let you rest. Until we meet again, farewell."

* * *

I woke up in my bed to a pleasant sight. Aigis was still sitting on the floor looking at me. She smiled once she spotted my eyes opening.

"Good Morning, Roy-san." She said as I sat up.

"Morning Aigis." I replied, smiling. I looked at the window, and the storm looked worse then yesterday, but not by a lot. "Stormin' pretty bad out there."

"Indeed." She agreed. "It would be unwise to attempt to visit Tartarus during such adverse weather."

"Eyup." I said, getting out of bed completely. "Looks like we'll be stayin' indoors for a while." I walked over to where I set down my PS3 and copy of Tales of Vesperia. "But I'll have something to do."

* * *

Turns out I was up earlier then basicly everyone except Aigis, so I managed to get a shower and put on something comfortable to wear as I headed down to the lounge with my new console and game in hand. Aigis was waiting, and helped me move the furniture around to maximize comfyness while enjoying the game. Took me a minute to get everything all setup, but once the game actually started, it was all good. Koro took and interest and sat down next to my legs to watch.

Mitsuru and Akihiko were the first two to join us after that, which was around the time I had to start breaking out of a jail in a castle in-game.

"You're up early." Akihiko commented as he sat down next to me with whatever the hell he was having for breakfast. "That a new game?"

"Updated rerelease of Tales of Vesperia." I told him as I decided to fight guards for shits and giggles despite the fact the character wants to avoid that. "Figured I may as well considering we're gonna be stuck inside for a few days."

"I see…" He took a bite of toast.

* * *

A little while later everybody else at the dorm had shown up and were all sitting to watch me be awesome at this game. It was unanimously agreed that Repede, the awesome pike-smoking ninja dog party member, was crazy awesome. Koromaru likewise approved.

Junpei wanted in on the action, and fortunately my PS3 came with a second controller so the two of us tag teamed durring battles. As time went on, it was clear we were all bonding famously over a simple, if very awesome, game despite the howling winds outside.

_["So you break into a home, call the owner a thief, and wave a sword in their face? What the hell kind of sense is that?"]_

"Wow, that's… scary…" I commented. "I didn't notice before now, but Rita has a voice really similar to Yukari's…"

"You think?" She asked.

_["Hmm, well Mordio is certainly my name. Rita Mordio, to be exact."]_

"Yeah, definitely." I nodded. I don't like the implications of that. At all. "Weird coincidence, innit?"

"Yeah, seriously…" agreed Junpei.

* * *

We spent basicly the rest of the day playing and I actually managed to get to Keiv Moc before heading to bed. By that point, everybody had a favorite character amongst the currently playable party. Mitsuru found Estelle easy to relate to, Ken likes Karol, Yukari(unsurprisingly) thinks Rita is completely hilarious, Koromaru's a fan of Repede(also unsurprising), Me 'n Junpei agree Yuri is badass, and, surprisingly, Shinjiro seems to like Raven. Naturally I re-named the characters in question after everybody in the dorm for shits and giggles.

The typhoon was still in full force the next day, so we all grouped up for more Vesperia silliness. Aigis took a liking to Patty and Junpei practically demanded I change Flynn's name to his because he had awesome firey doom skills. More lulz were had once I got to the part where Cumore shows up in the desert town, because everyone instantly looked at Akihiko and started asking him if he was secretly evil. Even Shinjiro. Ah, sometimes being cruel is funny.

By the time we all went to bed, the storm had started dieing down. Also, rain during the Dark Hour? Very creepy. I wasn't up to more Vesperia the next day, and actually found Fuuka in the kitchen.

"Hey Fuuka." I asked casually. It's about one-ish in the afternoon because I got up kinda late. "What cha' making?"

"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder. "Oh, Roy-kun…" She squirmed nervously. "Um, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

Fuuka turned around and held out a rice ball. "Would you try this for me…?"

"Sure." I said, not even thinking about it as I took the rice ball from her.

Nom.

…

"R-Roy-kun…?"

"THIS." I stated, my eyes wide. "IS FUCKING DELICIOUS."

"R-Really?"

"YES." _NOM NOM NOM._

"Th-That's great!" Fuuka said, her eyes shimmering. She turned and grabbed a large plate of rice balls and took them out of the kitchen. "Oh, Yukari-chan!"

I followed after Fuuka and found her handing one of the rice balls to Yukari, who had just arrived downstairs. She eyed it skeptically, then took a bite. A few moments of chewing later, and her eyes widened.

"Wow, Fuuka, this is really good!" Yukari chirped happily before she completely freaking inhaled the rest of the rice ball. Then she started eating more of them.

"W-Wait, Yukari-chan!" cried Fuuka in a panic. "I made those for everyone!"

Yukari stopped before she started eating a third rice ball and raised an eyebrow. "For everyone?"

Fuuka nodded. "To thank you all for everything you've done for me…"

"Why do you need to thank us?"

Fuuka seemed perplexed, then told her story to Yukari. Full details. When she finished, Yukari snickered a little, then burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Fuuka asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Fuuka… You don't need to thank me for anything." Yukari replied, struggling to contain her giggles. "We're friends. You don't owe me or anyone else anything more than your friendship."

I smirked, leaning on the kitchen doorframe as Fuuka trembled slightly.

"R-Really?" She stammered.

"Really." Yukari replied, smiling. "I'm sure everyone else feels the same way." She looked in my direction. "How about you, Roy?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You didn't really need to do anything for us, Fuuka."

She gazed at me in awe, looking back and forth between us before her eyes started tearing up and she smiled.

"Thank you…" Fuuka said, her voice breaking.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana._

I smiled. "No need to thank us, Fuuka." I turned my attention to Yukari, who was patting Fuuka on the shoulder. What she did right there… That was easily the nicest thing I've ever witnessed her do for basicly anyone. That got her some serious respect points.

A few moments later, Fuuka had composed herself a little and slipped back into the kitchen. I sat down at the table with Yukari for the hell of it.

"Hey, Yukari?" I began, turning my head slightly.

"Yeah?" She looked at me.

"That was a nice thing you did there." I told her.

She blushed a little and looked away. "I-It was nothing, really…"

I shook my head. "Nah, it wasn't nothing. You seriously just made Fuuka's day, if not her entire goddamn YEAR, with what you said to her." I smirked. "Glad to see you're really warming up to everybody."

Yukari gave me a skeptical look. "So what, I've been cold up till now?"

I shrugged. "Only a little, but maybe I just suck at noticing things." Nice save.

"Probably." She giggled. "And thanks. It… means a lot to hear you say that."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

I shrugged again. "That's just how I am."

* * *

A while later, Shinjiro came downstairs, tugging on his jacket and starting towards the door.

"You headin' out somewhere?" I asked from the sofa.

He stopped and looked at me. "Just headin' to Paulownia Mall to get something, why?"

"Mind if I tag along?" I asked. "I'm goin' stir crazy at this point."

He looked at me warily for a second, then shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Cool."

* * *

Ended up headin' to Chagall Café, which honestly surprised me a little.

"So why'd you wanna come here?" I asked as we sat down.

"Ground coffee." stated Shinjiro. "I need to make sure I don't forget to buy some on the way out."

Eyebrow. "Never seen you drink coffee at the dorm."

He laughed. "I don't unless I have any left over."

"Ah, usin' it to cook stuff?"

"Yeah." He admitted. "You suggested having a party a week or so back, so I'm planning on makin' a big feast for Aki's birthday."

"When's his birthday?"

"Tomorrow." replied Shinjiro. "Think you can keep him busy?"

"Sure thing."

"Thanks…" He said, then he began coughing.

"Whoa, Shinjiro, you okay man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he sighed. "It's not contagious or anything, so don't sweat it. It just happens once in a while. Kind of why I try not to come to these kinds of places very often."

I smirked. "The café makes you sick?"

He laughed. "Hell no. I feel bad for the workers here if somebody like me's in here coughing all the damn time."

"Eh." I shrugged.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

Shinjiro sighed. "Nice change of pace hangin' out with someone from the dorm…"

Eyebrow. "What cha' mean?"

"You know Hamuko, right?" He asked. "Brown hair, red eyes, always has a pair of headphones dangling around her neck?"

"Yeah, I know her." I said. "Why?"

"Well, she's been coming up to me after school lately and just dragging me places with her." He sighed. "It's kinda weird and a little annoying."

"So why not just ask her to stop?"

Shinjiro sighed again. "I dunno… Maybe I'm just not bothered by it?"

I shrugged. "Could be, but whatever."

"Yeah."

* * *

So yeah, we headed back to the dorm and I went to bed early after telling everyone we're hitting Tartarus a couple nights from now.

Now it's Aki's birthday and I'm dragging him out to the mall for stuff. We looked around a sports store for a while, then ended up heading to Hagakure for lunch. He seemed oddly quiet for some reason, though.

"Something bugging you?" I asked.

"Sorta…" He replied slowly. "I was wondering…" Akihiko looked at me. "Why do you fight?"

I set down my chopsticks and looked at him. "You're the second person to ask me that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Who was the first?"

"Aigis." I said. "As for why I fight… I fight so nobody else will have to go through what I did. I fight for everyone, not just myself."

Akihiko cast his eyes downward. "I see…" He looked back at me. "But it can't be as simple as fighting for people you don't even know, can it?"

"It is for me." I shrugged.

_'Is it?'_

Huh?

_'You say you're fighting to save everyone, but is everyone really worth saving?"_

Sure they are!

_'Are you certain?'_

Yeah!

_'What about Revolver Jesus and 'Splodie Specs?'_

…Shit, you've got a point there…

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

Sigh. "Actually…" I began. "That's not entirely true."

Akihiko looked at me oddly. "Huh?"

"It's not really that easy to fight for everyone." I said, looking at him. "Because I'm technically fighting for people who hurt others, like those Strega jerkasses we met back in August."

"So why do you fight for everyone?"

I laughed a little. "I guess it's because I think of the situation of everyone at the dorm. Granted, the Dark Hour is only really connected to the core motivations of a few of us, we all still have something in our life that spurs us forward." I turned my head completely to face Akihiko. "Mine is being the kind of person my parents would be proud of."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

Akihiko smirked, shaking his head lightly. "C'mon, finish your ramen so we can head back."

"Alright, alright…"

* * *

"SURPRISE!"

"So that's why you wanted to hang out today…" Akihiko looked at me with a smirk as we stood in the doorway of the dorm.

"Well, yeah." I admitted, then I noticed the massive freaking spread on the table. "Whoa, holy shit, how much did you make, Shinjiro?"

"Plenty." He grinned. "You should see the cake."

"This is going to be one of the most awesome parties EVER."

* * *

"Oh man, I'm in heaven…" Yukari cooed after finishing the last bite of omelet on her plate.

"Th-This…! It's a portal to the delicious dimension!" exclaimed Junpei with a mouthful of food.

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean…?"

Akihiko started coughing a little. I think he ate his special Birthday Beef Bowl a wee bit too fast.

"H-Here's some water!" Fuuka quickly handed him a glass, then looked over at Ken. "Huh? Aren't you going to eat, Ken-kun?"

"Huh?" He blinked in surprise, looking up from the spot on the floor he must've been staring ate. "Oh, uh… I'm have something…" he twitched uneasily. "Thanks for the food…"

"Yeah…" Shinjiro commented.

"So…" I asked. "Did you help make this, Fuuka?"

"Mmhm!" She replied happily. "Shinjiro-senpai was teaching me while we prepared!"

"Oh man, you should've seen when Fuuka tried to use a ladle as a measuring spoon!" Junpei laughed. "I thought for sure Shinjiro-senpai was gonna blow a gasket!"

"Junpei-kun! That's mean!" Fuuka pouted.

I laughed a little. "Ah, c'mon, he's just joking." I glared at him subtly. "Right?"

"Y-Yeah!" He agreed nervously. "Just messin' with ya!"

* * *

I sighed and flopped down on a chair in the lounge after we finished eating and cleaned up. Damn that was good.

"Looks like everyone enjoyed it." Shinjiro commented from his spot on the sofa.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Your food is epic, man. Seriously, you should like, open a restaurant or somethin'."

He laughed. "Ya think so?"

"Oh hell yeah." I said. "You'd get filthy stickin' rich in about a month."

Shinji laughed again. "You're probably right." He smirked. "Ya know, if you hadn't brought up the idea of havin' a big party like this, I doubt I would've done it. It was so simple, and all I had to do was do it…" He sighed slightly.

"You're welcome." I said. "If you ever need any other suggestions, just lemme know."

He chuckled a little. "Thanks."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

Shinjiro coughed a couple times, then sighed again. "Man, I'm bead…" he stood up. "Catch ya' in the morning."

"Erright. G'night, dude."

* * *

Came downstairs the next morning and found Fuuka in the lounge, tinkering with something.

"Morning Fuuka." I said, noting Koromaru chowing down on some breakfast of his own.

"Oh, Roy-kun…" She blinked a few times. "Um, can I talk to you?"

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"Um…" She shifted in her seat nervously. "Do you remember how I said that I don't have the strength to believe in the future?" I nodded, though I'm honestly not sure we talked about that. "Well, being with you has taught me why." Oh? "It's because I never finish anything I start."

"Really?" I asked.

Fuuka nodded. "People who are not truly happy cannot look forward to the future… And that's how I was. I always quit before I finished anything…" She sighed. "I never had a future to look forward to."

"Kinda harsh on yourself, don't you think?"

"A little…" She agreed. "But… after I told you how I felt about you, everything seemed to change…" She looked away slightly. "I was certain you didn't feel the same, but…" She looked back at me. "I still felt like I needed to tell you." Her expression changed slightly and she shook her head. "No… I felt like I wanted to tell you, and I didn't care how things turned out…" Fuuka smiled warmly. "So when you told me how you felt, I was happy."

I smiled as well. "I'm glad."

"I think I can change, little by little, thanks to you, Roy-kun…" She looked back at whatever the hell she was tinkering with and attached some bits to it, then stood up. "I want to give you something…" She picked up the thing off the table. "Here… I've seen you listening to music a lot, so I thought you might like these."

Hey, she made a pair of headphones! Ear clip ones, too. Nice. "Thanks! Excuse me for a second." I darted upstairs to get my MP3 player. I grabbed it, then put the headphones on and started back down to Fuuka. I plugged them in and turned on a random song.

_~Ladies and Gentlemen, please! Would you bring your attention to me!~_

Holy shit!

_~For a feast for your eyes to see! An explosion of catastrophe!~_

These are god damn epic! The quality is unreal!

_~Like nothing you've ever seen before! Watch closely as I open this door!~_

I looked at Fuuka in wide-eyed awe as I approached from the stairs.

_~Your jaws will be on the floor! After this, you'll be begging for more!~_

I slipped them off. "These are amazing!"

"You're welcome." Fuuka smiled, then cast her eyes downward. "This is from my heart…" She looked back up at me. "Remember how I told you that I was pretty good with mechanical devices?" I nodded. "Well, I finally gave up on cooking…"

"These are not something that can be made by someone who's 'pretty good', Fuuka." I told her with a serious expression. "These are the workings of a true genius. I mean it."

Her face reddened slightly. "R-Really?"

"YES." I said, with a hybrid of complete seriousness and wide-eyed shock on my face. "You've got incredible skill!"

Fuuka's expression brightened. "Thank you, Roy-kun… I want to be myself when I'm with you."

I smiled. "You always have been."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Priestess Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Scathach, the ultimate form of the Priestess Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

Huh. Hafta look up that one…

A short bark drew my attention to Koromaru, who was looking at me pleadingly.

"Wanna go for a walk?" I asked.

He barked again.

"Erright, lemme go get my hat."

* * *

We headed towards the shrine, Koromaru happily bounding along next to me before he stopped and started growling.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"What am I going to do…?"

I looked ahead and Mr. Ono, the crazy Samurai teacher from school.

"Hey there, Ono-sensei!" I called out as me 'n Koro walked over to him.

"WHOA!" His head snapped in my direction in surprise. "Oh, it's a student…" He spotted Koromaru. "Wait, that's a dog!"

"Eyup." I commented dryly. "He's a dog alright."

"Hey… Fortune, was it?" Asked Mr. Ono, looking up at me. "Fortune, is this your dog?"

I looked down at Koromaru, then back at the teacher. "Technically speaking, yes. Why?"

"Can I borrow him?" he pleaded. "You'll let me, right? Please! Just lend him to me!"

"Whoa whoa WHOA!" I held up my hands. "Calm down, please. What's going on? What do you need Koromaru's help for?"

"I lost something important!" He stated. "Dogs are great at looking for stuff!"

And then he started ranking about the FUCKING SENGOKU ERA. Augh, god damn it man, calm down! I looked at Koromaru.

"You up for it, Koro?" I asked him.

He barked in response. _(Sure, I don't mind.)_

"Erright, Koro said he'll help." I said.

"Ooh, he's gonna help me?" Mr. Ono's face brightened. "Really? Seriously?" I nodded. "Oh, thank you! Tell you what, if he finds it, I'll let you know what'll be on the next test!"

"Sure, whatever. So what're you looking for?"

"I lost a USB memory stick." He looked at Koromaru. "Do you know what those are?"

"He does." I said. "Koro's smart enough to work a TV Remote by himself. As for the USB stick, did you have any important stuff on it?"

Mr. Ono shook his head. "Nah, the data's not important. It's just stupid things like test questions." Right, he's a nut. Almost forgot. "But it's important." He looked at Koro. "You can find it by its smell, right?" He pulled off his helmet. Huh. I would've figured he was bald, but nope. Just got really short hair. "It smells like this!"

He jammed the helm into Koromaru's face, startling the little guy and moderately annoying him.

"I'm pretty sure I lost it around here." Stated the teacher. "C'mon, I'm counting on you, Inuchiyo!"

"His name's Koromaru…" I muttered.

And then Ono ranted on again about something as he put his helmet back on. Koro was already sniffing around, tuning him out. He raised his head suddenly and parked, then darted up the shrine's steps.

"Oh, go get it, Inuchiyo!" shouted the teacher as he ran after Koromaru.

I followed them both and we found Koromaru digging in the sand, then he pulled someth- Is that a fucking katana?

"That's it! That's the one!" Wait what? "Ooh, did I just sound like a Sengoku warlord?" Mr. Ono sighed in relief. "Goodness, though, I'm so relieved…"

"I thought you said you were looking for a USB drive…" I commented dumbly as he took the sheathed katana from Koromaru.

"It IS a memory stick! Look!" Mr. Ono grabbed the handle and pulled the blade out… except there was a USB jack instead of a sword blade. What. "This is… look here, right here!" Ono pointed at something on the handle. "Do you see the family crest engraved here? You can tell whose crest that is, right?"

"How did you get that?" I asked, overwhelmed by the sheer, unbridled insanity I was bearing witness to.

"This was special ordered!" stated the teacher proudly. "I wouldn't be able to sleep without it! And I've been invited to a wedding, so I'd be embarrassed to go unarmed!"

This is Japan and they are weird like that, Roy, don't think about it too much. "I see…"

"Oh, so you understand?" Oh god why does he look so happy? "Really?"

And then he took off on another rant. Oh my GOD, **MAKE IT STOP! _PLEASE!_**

"I'm pretty sure the kids who found this were playing sword-fight with it." sighed Mr. Ono. "Honestly, what would they have done if it was a real katana? It would've been broken to bits!"

I gave Mr. Ono my best 'what in the fuck is wrong with you' expression, then glanced down at Koromaru, who was sitting patiently.

"Now, to show my gratitude, I shall tell you what'll be on the next test!" I have a hunch. "Listen closely, because I'm giving you a real big hint." He leaned forward with a narrow-eyed expression. "Study the Sengoku period."

And then he walked off. WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?

'Because this is Japan and they're weird like that?'

Probably. And the fact Ono has the fucking Sengoku era on _**EVERY GOD DAMN TEST**_ ever sense we got that far in the textbook.

Le sigh.

I looked down at Koromaru, then patted his head. "Good work, little buddy."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

Koromaru sneezed, then whimpered. _(Gah… Got sand in my nose…)_

I chuckled slightly. "Well, c'mon. Let's get back to the dorm."

Koro barked in agreement, then followed after me.

* * *

Found Shinjiro sitting outside the dorm when we got back sometime around noon-ish.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Hm…?" He looked up at me. "Oh, hey Roy." He patted Koromaru on the head when the dog approached him. "Hey Koro. You two get back from a walk?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "So why're you sittin' out here? Somethin' on your mind?"

Shinjiro winced slightly. "I guess…" He sighed. "You remember how I cooked for everyone last night for Aki's birthday party?"

"What about it?"

"They've been going on and on about how good it was and that they want me to do it again." He griped tiredly. "And they'd all watch me whenever I walked within three feet of the kitchen, like they're expecting something."

I shrugged. "Victim of your own success, I suppose."

He laughed a little. "Yeah, probably. Still…" He smiled. "I'm glad they liked it."

"It was freaking delicious, man." I told him, leaning on the small fence nearby. A silence filled the air for a little bit after that, then I looked at him. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How'd you get that bruise on your face last week?" I asked. "I saw it during the party for Aigis."

Shinjiro grimaced. "Aki punched me."

Eyebrow. "Why?"

"I did something."

"What?"

He sighed. "You know that girl we've got held at the hospital?"

"Chidori? Yeah. What about her?"

"Well, she's got a problem sorta like me, so I gave her some meds to help her out." Shinjiro told me. "I never told Aki about it, so when he found out he got pissed."

My eyes widened slightly. "You're sick?"

"I was." he stated. "I got better just before I came back to SEES in July."

"Was that why Castor was weird when we talked back in June?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"So what was wrong with you?"

Shinjiro's expression darkened and he looked away. "I don't wanna talk about it."

I sighed. "Erright, I won't hound you then."

He seemed to smile, but I couldn't tell from the way his head was turned. "Thanks…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

"Seeenpaaaai~!" called out someone in a sing-son voice.

Our attention turned to the source of the voice, which turned out to be Hamuko happily approaching with a slight skip in her step.

"Hey Hamuko." I greeted once she came to a stop near us.

"Heya Roy-kun!" She smiled, then turned her attention to Shinjiro and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, Shinjiro-senpai, let's go already!"

Wait what?

"H-Huh?" He stammered. "Go where?"

"Wherever!" replied Hamuko as she dragged him to his feet. "C'mon, c'mon, let's go!"

"Whoa, wait, but…!" Shinjiro's protests fell on deaf ears as Hamuko pulled him away, leaving me and Koro sitting outside the dorm watching them vanish around a corner down the street.

I looked at Koromaru, and he looked at me. He tilted his head curiously.

I shook my head. "I dunno either, little buddy. I dunno either."

* * *

Shinjiro came back just as we were all getting ready to head to Tartarus, griping about 'that idiot who drags him around like some kind of toy'. Ken was interested to see how well the Gae Bolg would work out, so I took him up along with Koromaru, Mitsuru, and Aigis.

Or I did once I checked out the Velvet Room. Got a couple new 'sonas, my favorite being Black Frost. Think Jack Frost, except black like the name suggests and give him awesome powers of fire and ice and win. He's great.

We came across a group of those Musha Samurai Shadows pretty quickly once we got up there. We also discovered that the Gae Bolg deals wind elemental damage when Ken cut one on the arm and it got blasted with a burst of wind.

It was a slaughterhouse after that, because between the five of us slinging around elemental death(or in Aigis' case, bullets) the Shadows didn't stand a chance. Bonus points because we got a couple floors with nothing but Mushas on them, and those suckers are powerful. Haven't heard from the Reaper in a while now that I think about it, but honestly after his big 'you 'n me gonna fight' ultimatum I'm not THAT surprised. I just hope he doesn't, I dunno, decide to fight me before I'm capable of fighting back.

_'That would suck.'_

Yes it would- MATRIX KATANA DODGE- suck, Shade. It would suck a lot. Stupid Musha, quit trying to shank me, damn it! HA! GOT IT BY THE FACE. Now to channel a Hamaon through my hand aaaand… dead. Yay.

Okay, next up on the slaughter list is the current Guardian. And HOO BOY is this guy an asshole.

Mitsuru's sticking near Koromaru so he can block any fire blasts this damn bastard throws out when it's not dropping Megidolas or slinging around Hamaons. Currently Aigis and Ken are the only ones actually damaging this damn table bastard and I'm trying to avoid dying horribly myself while I spam healing spells.

"I summon thee!" **BANG**

Whoa, this thing's weak to ice! SWEET. "ATTACK!"

We all rushed in and started wailing away, but it called down a Megidola to scatter us and give itself some space. Okay, now methinks is time to see exactly how much bullshit I can get away with using Wild Card stuff. I pulled a Cadenza gem out of a card in my pocket.

_'The hell are you up to?'_

Testing a theory. If one of these things can heal a group of us and boost our speed as a theme music power up, what happens when I channel all the energies of one into a single target, namely myself?

_'…Let's find out.'_

Exactly what I was thinking.

I crushed the gem in my hand, then focused on keeping all the energy within myself. An extremely epic tune I didn't recognize began playing from nowhere, signaling that the Cadenza was indeed working. Now let's see abou- Dodge the fireba- HOLY SHIT I'M FAST!

"Fortune, what just happened?"

"TALK LATER!" I barked, darting around sustained attacks from the Table Shadow insanely easily. It's like they're in slow motion almost!

_'Damn, dude. You're almost in bullet time.'_

This must be what it's like to be Albert Wesker. Except, y'know, not out for human genocide or being generally evil.

_'You're forgetting his hamitude.'_

**THIS IS TRUE.** "CHRIIIISSSSS!"

I charged towards the Shadow with my Cadenza-Wesker-Fu and started clawing away at it with my gauntlets. I pretty much tore the damn thing completely apart, but it was already very weak from the previous attacks from Aigis and Ken so there wasn't much left for me to do to actually kill it.

I panted slightly as the Shadow dissolved and the Cadenza wore off. Shit, gonna take a while to get used to that…

"Roy-san, how'd you do that?"

I looked back at Ken. "THAT…" I began. "Is what happens when you take one of those Cadenzas and channel it all into one person."

"And how did you manage that?" Mitsuru asked with a pointed look.

"Technically speaking, Shade helped." I stated. "But apparently part of the Wild Card, as I discovered on the way back to the dorm after the fight with the Arcana Hermit, is being able to do a little bit short of anything with the abilities of the Personae you have. Aigis probably noticed the rails of ice I was using and how I was able to jump while still in the air. And seeing as Cadenza is an ability used BY Personas, it stood to reason I could pull of some crazy stuff with it."

She looked at me for a moment, then sighed and shook her head. "You're making this up as you go, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Mitsuru sighed again. "I thought so…"

* * *

After that, I sent Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, and Koromaru back down and had them send up Junpei, Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Yukari so we could tackle the rest of the floors up to the barrier. We ended up with about half the floors up to the barrier being loaded with GOD DAMN MUSHAS so there was much magical death spam flying around when Aki and Shinji weren't Fusion Spelling them to death. We headed back down after snagging the old document at the Barrier and I hit the Velvet Room again. I felt way stronger then when we got here, so I wanted to get some new 'sonas. And did I get some good ones. Namely Surt, the Ultimate Persona of the Magician Arcana.

He's a beast with Agi skills, and according to Igor, he's holding an item of some sort within himself so if I hold onto him he might spit out something other then a Skill Card. I was just BARELY able to get him, too. Igor said I could've used this one combination to get Thor, but sadly I wasn't powerful enough to use him, which is lame but I'm going to keep my Persona roster as it is until after the Full Moon.

We headed back to the dorm after that, and I chatted with Fuuka on the way to school the next day. She commented on it feeling more like Fall after the storm passed, then worried about us being able to finish off the Shadows before Winter. I told her that, at worst, we have 3 full moons worth of Shadows left to kill unless they show up in larger groups, but otherwise not to worry about it. It seemed to reassure her a bit.

Headed to Art Club after class and Ms. Toriumi was there.

"Everyone, can I have your attention, please!" She called out. "It seems the painting Keisuke submitted to the contest really caught the eyes of the judges!" She looked at the man himself. "They said you'll definitely be receiving a prize, Keisuke."

"Huh…?" He seemed shocked. "I don't understand… What does that mean?"

"It means you placed in the top four: At best, you'll receive first place, and at worst you'll receive an honorable mention." She told him. "The judges were impressed with how you sculpted the paint to give your painting a three-dimensional feel. Congratulations."

"Hey, good job, Keisuke-senpai!" called out one of the other guys in the club, patting him on the shoulder.

"Th-Then…" Keisuke stammered, turning his attention to me. "That means…"

"You should let your dad know, dude." I commented. "Now you don't have to quit the club."

"Th-That's right!" He agreed quickly. "My dad promised me! He said if I won, I could do whatever I want…" His expression brightened. "So this means I don't have to listen to him anymore, right?"

"Hey, we should celebrate!" Fuuka chimed in.

"Yeah!" Agreed Kaede. "That would be fun!"

Keisuke smiled. "Thanks everybody…" He turned back to me. "And sorry for causing you so much trouble, Roy-kun."

I waved my hand dismissively. "No worries."

He laughed a little then watched as everyone started filing out of the room. "Well, we should probably get going. You're coming to the party, right?"

"Hell yes."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

"I don't mean to interrupt…" Said Ms. Toriumi before the two of us could leave. "But there are a few things I need to talk to you about, Keisuke." She looked at a few of the other members who hadn't left either. "Don't worry, it won't take long. Please wait outside the Faculty Office."

* * *

So we(read: Me, Fuuka and two guys who's names I can never remember) gathered outside the office with Keisuke.

"Well, Keisuke…" Began Ms. Toriumi. "The judges think you have a lot of potential. So, if you're interesting in studying abroad, they'd be willing to help you transfer to a school overseas."

"Me…?" He stammered. "Study abroad?"

"Oh, Keisuke, there you are!" We turned to see Kaede running up towards us in a panic. "I was looking all over for you! Come quick, Mikarin just fainted!"

"Huh?" He blinked. "Oh, okay! I'll be right there!" He turned to Ms. Toriumi and bowed. "Sorry, Sensei. This is all so sudden. I'll need some time to think about it."

Keisuke ran off with Kaede to go check on Mikarin. I don't remember anyone in the club with that name, but it's possible I'm just forgetful.

"He says he doesn't want to be a doctor…" Toriumi mused. "But he's always trying to help people in need…"

I chuckled. "That's Keisuke for ya."

She laughed a little as well. "Indeed." She looked in the direction he ran off in thoughtfully. "A doctor's son with such talent… I have to say, I'm a bit jealous."

"You? Jealous?" I asked with a small grin.

"Hush, you." Ms. Toriumi shot back with a small glare. "Or you'll owe me cake."

I sighed. "Yes ma'am…"

"It doesn't seem like anyone's in the mood to celebrate now…" Fuuka commented sadly. "Well, I guess I'll let everyone know what happened. You can get going if you want, Roy-kun…"

I hesitated, then shrugged. "Alright. See you back at the dorm."

* * *

I opted to hang out at the mall till Tanaka showed up again. I talked to the Antique shop lady and she said she might be able to make something epic out of Surt. I hesitated, then told her to wait a second before I headed back to the Velvet Room to see if that item thing would still be there if I pulled him out of the compendium. Elizabeth confirmed that as the case, then I headed back to the Antique shop after registering Surt and handed him over to the Shop Owner.

I got Surt back after that, and chilled at the Arcade till I spotted Tanaka outside, then went out to chat with him.

"Hey Tanaka." I said casually as I approached. He seemed kinda off, though. "Something on your mind?"

"Hmm?" He looked at me. "Oh, hello. And yes, you could say that. As famous as I am, I'm used to being accosted by people, but I recently had an interesting encounter."

Eyebrow. "Really?"

Tanaka nodded. "It was with a young man not much older then you. Guess what he said."

_'Go fuck yourself?'_

"I hate you?" I asked.

He laughed. "Nope. He said 'thank you.'"

I blinked. "You sure that's what he said?"

"I was just as surprised as you, so I asked him to repeat himself." Stated Tanaka. "But sure enough, that's what he said. I was shocked someone would actually thank me for selling fake products." His expression darkened slightly. "But then, he told me he quit his part time job and was going to study to become a public prosecutor. He wants to punish businessmen like me for bending the rules. He said I was an example of a negative role model." He scoffed. "As if!"

_'Yeah, it's not like you're a corrupt, money-grubbing asshole with his head so far up his ass he can see out his mouth...'_

I know, right?

"Maybe I'm overreacting, but what if he does become a public prosecutor and puts me behind bars?" panicked Tanaka. "Lord knows what they would do to me in prison!" Just don't drop the soap and you'll be fine. "Would you still come visit me if I was in the slammer?"

"Provided I actually knew which jail you were thrown into?" I asked. "Probably."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

"I want the shareholders to know about this…" he commented quickly. "Apparently, kids these days aren't as naïve as we thought…"

I shook my head as he walked away. You know, out of all the things I've noticed about these Social Links, the people I link with end up bettering themselves or going through some kind of mental crisis or something. That doesn't seem to be happening with Tanaka.

_'I know, huh? It's kinda weird, but then again, this is fucking Tanaka we're talking about.'_

Good point. Let's go home so I can sleep.

* * *

Author Notes - Yeah, Tanaka's weird, but eh. And hey! Roy's got new Wild Card Bullshit in the form of INSTANT WESKER-FU. That should come in handy for the next full moon, which will either be next chapter(not likely) or in Chapter 34. It's gonna be big, too. Just wait till you see what I've got planned. You people might be pleasently surprised. Maybe.


	33. Peace before Chaos

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Jranz **- Ha, nice. And YAY TALES OF GRACES! I'd be happier if it was Vesperia PS3 showing up, but I'll take what I can get.

**Imbecile 862 **- Keep guessing, because I'm not telling anyone what the deal with the Tower Link is until it maxxes out.

**Fanfic Reader Guy **- Well, I'm not actually doing it on purpose, but I suppose I will surprise you. Probably even more with the next two chapters after this one.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

So I got back to the dorm and went to bed, then bumped into Andre at lunch the next day.

"Roy-sama! I 'ave come up wiz a great idea to show Japan's charm to my uncle!" He proclaimed. "I will show 'im a kimono, and make 'im understand the beauty of Nihon!"

Not sure it'll be enough, but I can encourage him. "That's a good idea, Andre. Go for it."

"Since you agree, Roy-sama, I 'ave nozing to be afraid of!" He smiled with a determined fire in his eyes. "Ze kimono eez a Japanese treasure! If I show it to my uncle he will surely let me stay in Nihon!" Andre's expression fell slightly. "Ze design will be…" His eyes lit up again. "Ze mascot of ze Sweet Shop! I zought of zis design because Roy-sama took me zere!"

I chuckled a little. Good ol' Andre.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

"I am no longer confused!" He exclaimed, pointing in the air dramatically. "I will 'urry up and make ze kimono!"

"Go for it, man!" I told him giving him a serious look.

"I will sew like ze wind!" Andre turned on his heels and ran off. Ah, he makes me laugh.

* * *

Yukari decided to semi-kidnap me after school to go to the mall with her.

"So what we lookin' fer?" I asked, dreading my fate as her pack mule.

"Oh, I wanted to check out some piercings…" She said, then looked at me. "Hey, Roy, how 'bout you pick one for me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why? I'm lazy and kinda don't care..."

"What? Are you serious?" Yukari sounds disappoint. "I was gonna wear it for you…" She huffed slightly and turned away. "Well, I guess I'm not that important to you."

The hell is her problem? Aaaand now her phone's ringing again.

She sighed. "Hang on, I have a phone call." She pulled out her cell and flipped it open. "Hello? …Uh huh… What? You're not?" The hell? "You want me to forgive you?"

Ah. Talking to her mom again. WHELP, this is gonna suck.

"Wait! Don't do that! Do what you wanna do!" Yukari panicked into the phone. "…But, that's not what I meant… If that's what you want, then go ahead… I don't care, so…" She winced slightly. "…Well, you don't have to worry about me…" her eyes widened. "Huh? You want to get together and talk about it?"

Hoo boy, that can't be good…

_'Yeah, seriously.'_

"S-Stop, don't cry!" She said quickly. "I'll call you later, okay? …Alright. Bye." She sighed and hung up, then looked at me.

"Your mom?" I asked.

Yukari nodded. "She apologized for everything that's happened. She said she won't get remarried until I forgive her…" She shook her head. "C-Can we sit for a while?"

I nodded , then followed her over to a bench and sat next to her.

"She wants to see me…" Yukari said slowly. "But… I'm really nervous…"

"Do you even want to see her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm not the one who asked to meet." She told me. "I'm afraid it might get ugly. We haven't seen each other in almost 10 years… so it's not going to be easy. When I see her, I might get angry and say something cruel."

Sad part? I can see that happening.

"But… It's probably about time I talked to her…" Yukari looked up. "Nothing will change if I just run away… Deep down inside, I think she still misses Dad…"

"That seems very likely." I commented.

"It's hard to explain…" She shook her head a little. "But, I realized this when we started hanging out, Roy… She couldn't handle it… Losing someone so important to her…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

"Oh well, let's go home." Yukari stood up. "We can go shopping some other day."

"Eyup." I agreed.

* * *

Got back to the dorm and I just sorta chilled in the lounge for a while, playin' Resident Evil 5 on Split screen Co-op with Aigis. It's great. Got bored of it after a while, so we've spent the past ten minutes just chillin'. I don't mind, it's an excuse to just quietly sit next to Aigis and I love it.

Koromaru barked suddenly, drawing my attention to Shinjiro, who decided to show up out of nowhere.

"Hey." He greeted the two of us as he kneeled next to Koromaru. "You wanna go for a walk?"

Koro barked in affirmation, causing Shinjiro to smirk. "Alright, I'll go get my coat."

I could use a little air, honestly. "Hey, Shinjiro, mind if I come with ya?"

He shrugged. "I don't care. Do whatever you want."

"Cool." I hopped over the back of the sofa. "Imma get my jacket and hat."

* * *

The three of us walked along the sidewalk in silence, the only sounds being our own footfalls. Shinjiro was the one who decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Roy…"

I turned my head slightly and looked in his direction. "Yeah?"

"You remember how I said I was sick the other day and I didn't wanna talk about it?"

I nodded. "Yeah…"

He sighed. "Well, if you still wanna hear it, I'll tell ya."

I blinked. This… is actually surprising. Huh. Eh, roll with it. I'd like to know. "Go ahead."

"See… thing is the illness I had is pretty rare, and fatal." Shinjiro began slowly. "It also, as I found out, affects your persona if you've got one. It's treatable so I won't die from it, but…"

"But?"

"The medication to cure it is akin to a slow-acting poison."

I stopped in my tracks. "What."

Shinji stopped a moment later and looked back at me. "Basicly, this thing will kill me no matter what. Either directly, or by taking the meds." He laughed bitterly. "Thing is, without those meds I'd have died by now. Trade off is basicly ignoring the meds and dying sooner, or taking the meds and getting to live a little longer before you die."

My expression hardened. "How much longer do you have?"

"At the latest, I won't live to see the spring."

I cursed under my breath. "And Akihiko knows?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "So does Kirijo."

"You sure you should be goin' up against Shadows, then?" I asked.

Shinjiro laughed. "It'll be fine. Real reason I came back when I did is the doc I was gettin' my meds from said I didn't need to take 'em anymore. I've had a mostly full bottle in my room for the last few months."

"And how'd you know Chidori had the same thing you did?"

"I didn't, honestly." He told me. "At least not until she started having a coughing fit at the hospital. She's lucky I didn't bother pulling the bottle out of my coat pocket after I got told I didn't need 'em anymore."

I winced. I don't have the heart to tell Junpei his girlfriend is gonna die.

"Hey, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this." said Shinji. "I don't want 'em worrying about me."

I sighed. "Alright."

He smirked. "Thanks."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

"What about you, Koromaru?" I asked the dog, who'd been sitting next to us quietly. "You won't tell anyone either, will ya?"

Koro shook his head. Shinji patted him a few times. "Thanks."

Koro barked, then we resumed walking with him towards the shrine. He seemed happy once we got there, but his attention shifted to a familiar looking woman who was approaching from the opposite direction.

"My, this dog…" She commented, looking at Koromaru. I recognize her, she's the lady who told the story about Koro when I first met him! "So this dog's still here." She looked at us. "Oh, haven't you heard? The priest here used to take care of this dog…"

"Yeah, we know." I told her.

"Is that so?" She seemed slightly surprised, but returned her attention to Koro. "But, if he's still here, he must not be able to forget about that priest… I feel kind of sorry for him…" She sighed. "If only there was something the priest used to wear that might help take his mind off his master's death…" She frowned. "Too bad that there's nothing like that I can think of…" She shook her head. "Oh, I was on my way to go buy miso." She bowed slightly. "Well then."

And off she went. Me and Shinji looked down at Koromaru. He looked right back up at us.

"We're right here with you, little buddy." I told him, scratching him behind the ear.

He barked, then headed up the shrine steps. The two of us followed. It's a nice, quiet night with nobody else around. Koro was standing a short ways away, then he sat down and howled. Several other howls came from other directions.

I smiled, then me 'n Shinji walked over to him.

"Saying hi to the priest?" I asked.

Koro barked in response, still looking at the shrine.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

Shinjiro chuckled. "Betcha he's glad to know you're helpin' us out, Koromaru."

Koro barked again in agreement.

_'I gotta say, little guy's tough. Real tough. Guess it comes with the Arcana, huh Roy?'_

Yeah Shade. Probably does.

* * *

We headed back to the dorm after that. Saturday was mostly uneventful, but I finally told the Tennis Coach I was going to quit the team. He seemed a little disappointed, but he was cool because I showed everyone how to be awesome before the tournament. I stayed around for one last practice as my way of seeing things off with everybody. Rio 'n Kaz were also sad to see me go, but they were cool with it as well. I told 'em all it was because I had a bunch of stuff come up(technically true), but if they wanted to keep a spot open for me, they could go right ahead. Coach said I was always welcome to drop by if I ever wanted to, and it was all warm fuzzies all around 'n stuff.

Next day was Sunday, so I went down to the shrine to see Akinari.

"So how you doin' today?" I asked as I sat down. "Better then last time?"

Akinari chuckled. "Yes, much better. It looked pretty bad last time, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. What happened?"

"I had been reading a book before you came that day." He admitted. "I got so absorbed in reading that I forgot to close the window, and I didn't realize how chilly it was." His expression turned curious. "Do you read many books?"

"Depends on the book." I said. "Don't read often, but if something catches my interest I'll check it out."

Akinari laughed. "I can definitely relate to that. A bad book is a really big waste of time because you have to get so far into it before you write it off…" he nodded knowingly, looking out at the rest of the shrine. "I read a lot of books these days. I find they're the easiest ways to spend my time, since I can get lost in a book's private world." He looked back at me. "Do you read books all the way to the end?"

"Usually." I said. "Sometimes I won't, but that's when the book didn't turn out to be as good as I expected."

"Ah, I see…" He looked away again. "I don't like to see them end. I really get into the story and usually reach the end quickly, but… I never want to finish it." He sighed.

"Because if you finish it, you'll be back in your room, alone?" I asked.

He nodded. "As Akinari, the person who can't escape his fate." He looked up at the sky. "Stories about hope or heroism… those are the kinds of books I read." Akinari smiled. "So hopefully, if I do decide to finish reading them, I'll feel happy at the end when I come back here."

"Those…" I smiled. "Are the best kinds of stories."

He smiled as well. "Yeah. They are."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

"Time is ruthless…" Akinari noted. "It looks like the sun is already setting."

Damn, it is. Been here talking for a while. "But you know, no one can escape time." I told Akinari. "It delivers us all to the same end." I looked at him. "We can't plug our ears or cover our eyes."

Akinari laughed a little. "I supposed you're right." he stood up slowly. "I hope we have another chance to talk."

"We will, but not next week." I told him. "Got something big coming up and I said I'd help my friends with it." I checked the calendar for the next full moon, and it's gonna be next Sunday, so we'll likely be spending all day getting ready. "Just so you know, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay. I'll see you in two weeks, then."

* * *

"Good evening."

I sat up in bed. "Hey Pharos. It that time again?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Yep. One week till the full moon. I hope nothing serious happens."

"Yeah, same here." I agreed, then laughed a little as well. "Oh yeah, I quoted you while taking to a friend today."

"I know. I'm always watching you."

"Admittedly, that's a little creepy, you know that, right?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Pharos laughed.

"I know, but it's fun to mess with you a little."

I laughed as well. "Yeah, friends do get to mess with each other." I yawned. "Imma go back to bed, if that's okay."

"Sure thing." Pharos nodded and hopped off my bead. "We'll meet again."

"Later Days, Pharos."

He smiled and gave me a two finger salute as he walked backwards through my door. "Later Days, Roy."

* * *

Nothing much happened on Monday, except Ms. Miyahara proving, once again, that she is the weirdest teacher at the school, if not the weirdest math teacher on the planet, ever.

Tuesday was 'help Andre with his Kimono project' day.

"Sewing is my life." He said as we worked. "Even though my wallet's light and I can only get cheap material…" A fire burned in his eyes. "I will work 'ard to make ze best kimono, and save my future!"

"Well hey, if you wanna get some better material, I can give you some money." I told him. "I've got a good part-time job, so don't worry about paying me back."

"R-Really?" Andre seemed surprised. "You'd do that for me?"

I nodded. "Hell yeah." I stood up. "C'mon, let's go to the store and pick out the best stuff we can find!"

"Yeah!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

I need to work on tuning those damn spooky voices out. It's honestly getting kind of annoying at this point.

* * *

So we went to the store, got some good material for Andre to use, the parted ways afterwards. I didn't feel like going back to the dorm just yet, so I headed to the mall. Guess who I bumped into while I was there.

"Well well, if it isn't the Fedora Kid." Tanaka smirked as I walked over to him. He still doesn't know my real name.

"Thanks for the nickname." I replied. "What's been up with you lately?"

"Apart from the normal?" He raised an eyebrow. "Nothing much, save for a woman stopping by my office asking for a donation the other day. She was a kind of girl that mean dream of- drop dead gorgeous." He shook his head. "But, no matter how attractive she was, I was repulsed by her dedication to charity work."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not gonna donate?"

He sighed. "Well, if I say no, the tabloids will tear me to shreds. I mean, why should I give my hard-earned money to a bunch of freeloaders? I pulled myself up out of the squalor to get where I am today! In fact, I've earned the right to laugh at those who used to laugh at me!" Tanaka's expression fell slightly. "That's what I had always dreamt of… but to tell you the truth, now I have too much money. Profits are booming, but I'm so busy I don't have time to spend a dime…" He rubbed his chin. "Maybe I should train someone to take my place. I could reach them my business philosophy and help them master my management techniques…" His eyes glimmered slightly. "I could create a carbon copy of me!" Oh god, the world would be doomed. "It would probably cost me a fortune, but if it works, then I could sit back and relax in my massage chair!" He looked at me.

"No." I replied instantly. "I don't want to run your business. No offence, but do you think it's a good idea to train to have me, the guy who was trying to blackmail you about four months ago, take over your business?"

"Yeah, you've got a point there…" Tanaka admitted. "Besides, people would think I'm a weirdo if I adopted a boy your age…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Devil Arcana._

"That they would." I agreed. "And you know, I'd have thought you'd like the idea of donating to the less fortunate/"

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"You said yourself you crawled up out of the gutter and are now top of the heap." I stated. "Why not donate some of your currently ever-growing pile of money to less fortunate kids so they can do the same?"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "'Donate for the sake of the less fortunate', eh?" He shook his head slightly. "Well, food for thought I suppose. See ya 'round, kid."

"Later, Tanaka." I may just be getting through to this guy. Maybe.

* * *

Wednesday was dull, and I felt like sketching something so I sat in the lounge drawing while Shinjiro was reading a book or something. Not exactly sure what everyone else is up to, except maybe Ken and Akihiko because I heard them in their rooms doing stuff of a stuff nature. I think Aigis went out with Fuuka for some reason, but I'm not entirely sure.

"Hey, Roy…"

I glanced in Shinjiro's direction for a moment. "What's up, Shinjiro?"

"I was wondering… Why don't you talk about yourself very much?"

I shrugged. "I don't think my life was that interesting." I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "And what brought this on, anyways? To be honest, you don't really seem like the type to just take interest in other people."

Shinjiro shrugged. "I got interested in other people lately. Life's interesting, y'know?"

I suspect Hamuko has something to do with this. I set my sketchbook down, then sat properly and faced Shinji. "So, what'd you want to know about me?"

"What was your life like back in America?"

I laughed a little. "Honestly, it wasn't too bad. I lived with my dad's older brother, my uncle Shane, while I was there. Life was kinda normal-ish, I guess, apart from the Dark Hour at eight in the morning."

Shinjiro winced. "Oh yeah, you grew up with it, huh?"

"Eyup." I nodded. "I didn't really care about it. All I knew was that my parents died because of it, but other then that it seemed harmless." I laughed slightly nostalgically. "Plus it was a fun way to get back at the guys who'd pick on me in Junior High."

"How?"

"Simple. I always got to school at least ten minutes before most of them did, so I'd stalk around looking for them before the Dark Hour hit. Once it did, I'd put stuff on their coffins or around them and then go do something else till it was over." I grinned. "It was always funny. Sure it wasn't very nice, but they didn't exactly endear themselves to me."

Shinji chuckled. "So what's your uncle like?"

"Uncle Shane?" I asked. He nodded. "He's a nice guy. Teeny bit eccentric, and he's got a big interest in tarot. Also had the same 'fun money' policy as my dad."

"Fun money?"

I nodded. "Yeah. See, my dad was business partners with this guy and they had a big scientific company type thing. Sorta like an American equivalent to the Kirijo Group. Dad wasn't very greedy, but he did have a teeny bit of a gambling problem. He did, however, reign it in by setting aside 'fun money' that was used to gamble every month until it ran out and then he'd stop. Uncle Shane just thought it was a smart idea and took up a similar policy type thing, despite not actually gambling a lot. It was mostly just to unwind." I chuckled a little. "Ah, that reminds me of the time Uncle Shane took me to Las Vegas…"

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow. "You've been to Las Vegas?"

"Oh yeah. It was for my Fourteenth birthday." I told him. "He even got me a fake ID so I could go into the casinos. Keep in mind, this was only a couple years ago and I was maybe six inches or so shorter back then." I sighed contently and shook my head. "I got banned from three different casinos for winning too much at the poker tables."

"That reminds me, what's with you and your whole card thing you've got goin'?" he asked. "I've seen you do some crazy stuff with those card things that you've been keeping your gear in."

"Ah, that I kinda got from my uncle as well." I said. "See, a couple years after I started living in America, I asked him why my parents had to die. He told me that fate had dealt them death. I then did the obvious of asking him what fate had dealt me, and he said it was a wild card. I asked him what he meant, and he told me to find out for myself."

"Did you?"

I laughed again. "Nope. I just buried my nose in books about Tarot, then eventually got into poker and various other card-related things, like slight of hand and such." I flicked a card out of my shirt and slapped it down on the table without looking at it, then slid it slightly towards Shinjiro. "Ace of Hearts."

He gave me a skeptical look, then flipped the card over. Ace of Hearts. He gave a low whistle.

"How'd you do that?" Shinji asked as I took the card back and slipped it back into my sleeve.

I smirked. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

He laughed. "You would say something like that, huh?"

"But of course." I replied with mock smugness.

"So that's the kind of stuff you learned in American, huh?" Shinjiro asked.

"Mmhm." I nodded. "Started with tarot, spiraled into card stuff, and kept on goin' past Vegas."

"Sounds like you had an interesting life."

I shrugged. "Not really, actually…"

"Nah, I mean it." He stated. "Don't sell yourself short."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Moon Arcana._

I laughed a little. "That actually sounds like something I'd say."

"Guess you just have that affect on people, huh?" Shinji commented, digging around inside his jacket for a second before frowning. "Damn it…"

Eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot I lost my pocket watch the other day…" he sighed. "It's kinda old, and I got it from someone sometime ago…"

"Well hey, if I find anything like that lyin' around somewhere, I'll let you know."

He chuckled. "Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

Next day was another Andre work day. And hot damn, he works FAST. Hamuko's stopped showing up for the club, though. Or at least it seems that way.

"If I give my best effort, zis will come out great!" He said to himself as he worked. "Aaah, ze material we bought 'as been transformed!" He looked up at me with a grin. "Without your help, I'd probably be back home by now. But, because of you, Roy-sama, I'll be able to finish the kimono."

"That's great." I told him. I still have no idea what the fuck I've been making whenever I come here. No idea. "I'm happy to help."

"Zank you for your kind words!" Andre's grin widened. "I can forget about my aches and pains now!" His expression dropped a little. "By ze way, Roy-sama… I 'ave met many people in Nihon, but, you are ze best tomodachi I 'ave 'ere! If my aunt was still alive, I would tell her about ze wonderful friend I 'ave made."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Temperance Arcana._

I chuckled a little. "Thanks, Andre." I looked at the Kimono he was working on. It'll be done by next Tuesday at the rate he's going.

"Alright! Now I'll take a small break." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I'm so tired I think I can see my aunt…"

I laughed. "Yeah, take it easy man."

* * *

After helping out Andre for a little while longer, I headed down to the mall to do see what Kurosawa had for sale and found Tanaka there earlier then I normally expect him to be around.

"Ah, Perfect timing." He said as I approached him. "I'm actually waiting for the volunteer I told you about the other day." He grinned. "I've decided to make a donation."

"Really?" I asked with genuine surprise. "That's good."

"Oh, there she is now…"

I turned to follow Tanaka's g- HOT DAMN.

"See? Isn't she gorgeous…"

I nodded dumbly as the woman approached. "Absolutely…"

"I knew you'd agree." he said, slyly nudging me. "You can't hide your attraction, you little devil, you! Few men can say 'no' to a woman like that."

Oh, I can say no to her. I'm just agreeing with you that she's hot. Aigis is cuter.

"She's raising money to help orphans in foreign countries." Tanaka continued. "I don't look at is as a donation, so much as an investment." He noticed my slightly skeptical look. "Let me explain. Children who learn to cope with adversity are more likely to become rich and famous, like me. I'm thinking of donating ten million yen. Not a corporate donation, but a private one." He dug around in his pocket. "When I told them over the phone, they sent me this."

He handed me a letter. I opened it and it basicly amounted to them thanking him for donating so much money out of his own pocket.

"I received it the very next day. Now I can't back out… but ten million yen is nothing to me." Tanaka grinned smugly. "Once those children grow up and become successful, I'll introduce myself to them. I'll say 'I'm the one who made all this possible!' Then, I'll be well taken care of in my old age!" He laughed slightly. "This idea probably would not have occurred to me if not for our conversations."

Eyebrow. "Really?"

"Indeed. By talking to you, I seem to have developed an interest in watching others mature." He bowed slightly. "I thank you for that. Actually I should be thanking myself for wisely noticing this."

Even when this guy's being nice, he still keeps focus on himself. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from ol' Tanaka.

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Devil Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Beelzebub, the ultimate form of the Devil Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

Aw man, I don't get Lucifer? Le Sigh… Ah well. Beelzebub is still pretty metal.

"You can keep that letter." Tanaka told me. "I worked myself to the bone to earn that money, and all I got is a piece of paper?" He sighed and shook his head. "Anyways, excuse us. We need some time alone to talk about adult stuff."

Oh god I did not need to know that. I watched Tanaka and the charity lady walk away, then he stopped and turned back to face me.

"Oh, by the way… I've decided to pass on the exclusive modeling contract we discussed." You mean the one I recall rejecting? "Unfortunately, I god swept up by your enthusiasm and may have given you the wrong impression." He shook his head. "Anyway, stop hanging around middle-aged men like me and find what truly makes you happy." Tanaka grinned. "Tootaloo, my dear boy… May you find success one day."

I saluted Tanaka with two fingers. "Later Days, President Tanaka." I folded up the thank you letter and tucked it into my Uniform jacket before I headed off. I'm so glad we're back in our winter uniforms now.

* * *

Kurosawa had some new stuff, so I snagged a few things and headed back to the dorm to pass it on to everybody. We stayed in again that night, and I found an e-mail from Uncle Shane when I turned on my laptop. It was simple "How've you been? This is what I'm up to" type stuff. It occurs to me now that I haven't really talked to him much since I got here. Then again, he said told me he didn't mind when I left in the first place. There was also a sound file attached and, being an idiot, I opened it.

_["**ROOOOOOOOYYY!**"]_ blared my uncle's voice from my laptop's speakers in the middle of the dorm lounge, startling everyone. _["I know I said I didn't mind if you didn't call or anything, but would it kill you to at least drop me a line every so often? I THINK NOT. Honestly, I know I raised you better then that. But yeah, how've you been doin'? Made any friends? Broken anybody's arm? Found a girlfriend? I wanna know. Oh, and just so your friends at that dorm will think I'm crazy, you're crazy, and look at you funny, **IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES, WE'LL REACH VADER'S DEATH STAR AND RELEASE GEORGE BUSH INTO THE ATMOSPHERE!**"]_

Facepalm of shame. Why does my uncle have to be crazy.

"Roy, what the hell was that?" Junpei asked with a slightly worried expression.

"That was my uncle…" I replied. I'm so glad the only people here who speak English are me, Mitsuru, and Aigis. Yeah, she's got like an auto-translator thing or something. "He's… a little bit strange."

"You sure? It sounded like that one guy from that game you were playing with Ai-chan the other day…"

Oh god he noticed. I sighed. "Yeah, weird thing about my uncle, he sounds like the english voice actor for Albert Wesker. He knows it, and thinks it's hilarious."

I really wish I was kidding about that, too. My uncle sounds like Albert Wesker. Make of that what you will.

* * *

So after that rather weird little moment, I sent my uncle an e-mail semi-abridging my adventures here in Japan, sans Dark Hour details of course. I also avoided mentioning my feelings for Aigis, because I'd rather avoid having him tease me about it even if I left out the part about her being a robot.

I went to bed shortly after that, and headed to Art club after school the next day.

"Psst, Roy-kun…"

I turned my head to look at Keisuke. "Hm?"

"Can I talk to you after Art Club?" He asked.

"Sure thing."

* * *

One Art Club session later, and we're now on the roof. Why do so many people like the roof, anyways?

"Everyone is working so hard…"

I looked at Keisuke. "So are you, dude."

He sighed. "Is that what it seems like to you, Roy-kun?"

Eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"Well, I told my dad about my opportunity to study abroad, and get this…" Kesiuke looked at me. "He said I should give it a try. Can you believe that? Before, he was telling me I should QUIT the club!" He shook his head frustrated. "All he ever wanted was for me to become a doctor, and how he's saying I should follow my dreams… I don't know what I should do…" He sighed again. "I'm so confused…"

"Do whatever you want, Keisuke." I told him. "Nothing's stopping you."

"Th-That's true, but…" He frowned. "If I study abroad, it'll seem like I'm only doing it because my dad told me to…" He shook his head quickly. "Thanks. I've been having a really hard time with this, but I feel a lot better now." His trademark grin widened. "You're the only person I can talk to, Roy-kun."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

"You're always done what you've wanted to in life, haven't you, Roy-kun?"

I shrugged. "Probably. I never thought about it much."

"Oh, sorry. Let's get going." Keisuke started towards the door. "Oh, uh, I'm having my driver pick me up, so if you want, I can have him drop you off near your dorm."

"That would kick ass."

* * *

So yeah. I got a ride in a small not-limo to about a block away from the dorm. It was cool. I didn't even think Keisuke HAD a driver.

_'Ya learn somethin' new every day, huh?'_

Eyup. Now I'm headin' back to the dorm and hey, here comes Shinjiro.

"Hey." I greeted. "Goin' fer a walk?"

"Yeah." he replied, starting past me, but then he stopped and looked in my direction. "Actually, you wanna come with? I wanted to talk to you."

This sounds important. "Sure thing."

* * *

The two of us headed to the shrine. It was another quiet night. We took up spots on one of the benches and just sat there quietly for a little. I heard some rustling, then looked over to see Shinjiro pulling out an old pocket watch.

"I thought you lost that…" I commented.

He laughed. "I did."

"Where'd you find it?"

"I didn't. Hamuko did." He told me. "Said someone took it to the police station and she claimed it." Shinjiro toyed with the old watch a little. "I thought I'd be fine if I never saw this again, and she was the last person I would've thought would bring it to me." He sighed, then reached into his coat again. "By the way, I got somethin' for you."

I raised an eyebrow as he produced a thin card holder case thing and handed it to me.

"You've got your whole card thing goin', so I figured you could use this to keep track of 'em all a little easier."

I laughed a little and slipped it into my pocket. "It's not that hard, but thanks. It'll come in handy."

There was another long silence as Shinjiro stared down at his feet.

"Look after Aki." He said suddenly, before turning his head slightly to look at me. "You know he's an idiot."

I laughed again. "I'll admit, he is kinda clueless sometimes."

"You remember the story about the first fight we ever had?"

I shook my head. "No, don't think you told me that one. What happened?"

"It was because… I stole a doll from a toy store." Shinji sighed. "Aki's sister couldn't make any friends, so I stole it because I thought it'd make her happy. Aki found out about it and beat the crap outta me… and he was crying the whole time." He leaned back on the bench. "Afterwards, we both went back to the store to return it… and to apologize for what I did."

"How'd that go?"

"The toy store's owner smacked us both." He laughed nostalgically. "He hasn't changed at all from back then. He's stupid, honest, proud, kind… and a crybaby." He looked at me seriously. "That why someone needs to watch his back."

I smirked. "That's what we're here for. We've got his back, right?"

"Yeah… I'll be counting on all of you." Shinjiro smiled. "I ain't worried at all, because I know you'll help him out. I'm leaving the rest to you."

I nodded seriously. "You can count on me." I think I just became the unofficial third member of the SEES Bash Brothers.

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Moon Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Sandalphon, the ultimate form of the Moon Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

"The wind's starting to pick up…" He commented absently. "We should head back…"

I nodded. "Yeah, probably."

* * *

Nothing else of note happened that night, and I walked to school with Aigis the next morning.

"The Lost seem to be growing in number." She noted as we passed the gates.

"Yeah." I agreed. "That's not a good sign."

"Indeed." said Aigis. "But our highest priority should be eliminating the remaining Shadows. The moon will be full tomorrow. I shall accompany you in battle."

I smiled. "Thanks Aigis."

* * *

Nothing much happened after school, so now I'm back at the dorm chilling in the lounge. Again. Nobody else is here except Shinjiro. Aigis, Fuuka, and Ken took Koromaru for a walk, Akihiko's going for a jog or something, Mitsuru never showed up back at the dorm after school, Yukari's off being Yukari, and Junpei's visiting Chidori at the hospital.

The door suddenly flew open and I looked over slightly as I listened to Daft Punk with the epic headphones Fuuka gave me while I sketched on the sofa. What the hell…? What's Hamuko doing here? I paused my music, but otherwise acted like I hadn't noticed so they don't think I'm listening in even though I am.

"Senpai!" Hamuko chirped as she approached Shinjiro.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why're you here? Shouldn't you be hanging out with your friends? I can't give you anything or do anything for you."

"I want to be with you." She replied firmly, giving him a sharp glare.

"You can stare me like that all day, I got nothing for you." Shinji told her. "Haven't you wasted enough time on me? What more do you want?"

"I love you."

You could've heard a pin drop from three miles away it was so quiet after she said that.

"…Huh?" Shinjiro finally managed to stammer, his eyes wide. "D-Don't tease me like that!"

"I'm not teasing you!" She insisted, sounding hurt.

"Urgh…" He grumbled. "I mean, why just blurt out something like that? Here, of all places…?"

I felt him look in my direction, but from the angle my head's at he can't tell if I'm paying attention to him or not, because I kinda look like I'm in thought about what to draw.

"Would you…" Hamuko's face turned slightly red. "…Like to come to my house… a-and see my room?"

Whoa, hello.

"I-I can't do that." Shinji replied uneasily. "I mean, you're… Well, what would your parents say?"

"Um… I live alone…" She stated. "My parents are overseas on business, and they're paying for me to live in a small apartment…"

Wait, what the hell, why did I just start scribbling 'DO IT SHINJI' on the bottom half of this page over and over?

"Wh-What…?" He was taken aback by her statement. "W-Well, I mean, you're… Well, people are gonna get the wrong idea…"

A devilish smirk crept up Hamuko's lips. "That just leaves your room, then."

_'DAMN.'_

My thoughts exactly, Shade.

"Y-You moron!" Shinji snapped. "I… I ain't a nice guy. I can't let you in my room. Don't you get it?"

"I know what I'm saying." Hamuko huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"No way. It's not gonna happen." He said quickly. "Look, you need to watch yourself. Don't bother with someone like me."

"I still love you, Senpai!" She yelled, grabbing onto his jacket. She must've been giving him doe eyes or something, because I can see him wavering slightly.

"Idiot…" He sighed in defeat. "Fine…"

Hamuko giggled happily. "Well c'mon then, I wanna see Senpai's room!"

She continued to gush and giggle and semi-dragged Shinjiro up the stairs. I looked back down at my sketch and yeah, basicly half the page is covered with 'DO IT SHINJI' written in english. Le sigh.

_'Let's just hope nobody comes home anytime soon. They're probably going to be… busy.'_

Eyup. Very busy.

* * *

Author Notes - Very busy indeed. SO YEAH, up next is the October 4th Full Moon! And you all know what that means: Bad shit 'bout be goin' down in dis place. Sadface. But, never fear! I have many plans. Most of them are good, except this one that involves three barrels of gun powder, a bag of Canadian pennies, four rolls of aluminum foil, a box of baseball cards. That one's just plain weird.


	34. Echo of Pain

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Imbecile 862 **- I never said you were wrong about the Tower link. I just said I won't tell you if you're right or not until the Link maxxes out. And you'll find out the deal with Hamuko in this chapter and the next few after it.

On a side note, Happy Battle of Nyx day, Persona 3 fans! And now, LET THE INFAMOUS OCTOBER FOURTH OPERATION COMMENCE!

* * *

I didn't hear whatever the two of them were up to, which is a good thing I hope, but neither of them came back down for the rest of the night. Nobody asked where Shinjiro was when they got back, which was good. They also failed to notice the extra pair of shoes, which is another blessing.

I was up earliest the next morning, or so I thought when I came down and checked the shoe rack. Both Hamuko and Shinjiro's shoes were gone, so he must've walked her home.

The rest of the day, once everyone else started waking up, was spent relaxing and preparing for the Operation. Shinji came back later on and dodged everybody's questions. Most of us gathered in the Command Room shortly before the Dark Hour hit. Once it did, Fuuka got to work and summoned Lucia.

_{I've located the target…}_ She said after only a couple of minutes passed. _{It's in the plaza in front of Iwatodai Station!}_

"This will be the tenth…" Noted Sketchtsuki. Oh, yeah, he's here too, but nobody cares. Or at least I don't. "Only a few more left, but let's worry about them one at a time."

"Assuming they come one at a time." Yukari joked with a giggle. "Just kidding."

_{…Yukari-chan, how did you know? I sense two of them!}_

**DAMN IT YUKARI.**

"Are you serious? Me and my big mouth…"

I sighed, then noticed Akihiko looking around.

"Where's Shinji?"

_{He just notified me that he'll meet up with you later.}_ Fuuka reported. _{I didn't ask any questions.}_

Akihiko sighed. "Figures. He's always played by his own rules."

"It's okay." Commented Junpei. "At least he's coming, right?"

"Yeah, not like someone I know who missed last time."

"Yukari, he was tied the fuck up." I growled. "Give 'em a break."

"Yeah, what he said!"

Yukari just rolled her eyes, then looked around. "Wait, Ken-kun isn't here either…" She turned to Junpei. "Hey Junpei, go get him. That'll be your punishment for last time."

"Punishment?" He griped. "What is this, kindergarten?" He sighed and started shuffling off towards the door. "That little shit is more trouble than he's worth…"

"All right, let's move out." Mitsuru said as Junpei left the room. "This time, there are two enemies. We'll determine our formation once we arrive."

* * *

One short trek later, and we stood at the crosswalk to the Station. We spotted the two Shadows just sorta standing there, waiting for us.

"There they are!" exclaimed Yukari. "This is the way we go to school! We've gotta protect this place…"

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"It seems like they've been waiting for us…" Fuuka noted.

Before anyone else could say anything, Junpei came running up to us.

"Where's Amada?" asked Mitsuru.

"He wasn't in his room, so who knows…" He replied.

"Damn it, Shinji…" growled Akihiko. "Where are you?"

"Um, I think we should hurry…" Fuuka pointed at the Shadows, who were looking over at us intently. "They look like they're about to make their move."

"Alright, let's decide on a team and engage the enemy!"

"Aigis, Akihiko, and Mitsuru." I said instantly. "Let's roll."

"Understood." Aigis approached me, her finger guns at the ready. The two of us headed towards the Shadows with Akihiko and Mitsuru a few steps behind.

Getting a better look at the Shadows now. Both appear to be black, cartoonish human silhouettes with bright yellow eyes and no visible mouths. Fortune is dressed like an old west gunslinger in a duster-style jacket and its Arcana mask about where you'd expect a sheriff badge to be on his jacket with at least one revolver belted around his waist. Strength, on the other hand, is wearing some kinda monk-style getup with a sorta futuristic look to it. Got a headband with its Arcana mask on it around its head and is holding a long staff, and it appears to have a messy head of dark grey hair. The rest of its outfit is in varying shades of grey monochrome with a few glowy orange bits.

Once we got close enough, Strength suddenly brandished his staff, spinning it of his head with one hand before slamming one end down on the ground.

"Look out!"

Aigis tackled me as a wall of orange energy surged up, trapping us in an enclosed area with the Shadows. Mitsuru and Akihiko, however, were outside said wall of energy.

"Roy! Aigis!" Akihiko shouted, then he tried to punch through the wall. It didn't work. "Damn it!"

_{Roy-kun! Aigis! Can you hear me?}_

"Yeah, I can hear ya' Fuuka…" I grunted as the two of us got up. I turned to look back at the wall Strength made.

_'Can't get through it.'_

Clearly. Any ideas?

_'Yeah. Kill Strength. If it made this barrier, killing him will probably get rid of it.'_

Works for me. "Aigis, it looks like it's just the two of us against these things."

"Understood." Aigis took a combative stance.

_{W-Wait, Roy-kun!}_

"Why?" I asked, taking out my evoker, then throwing my arm down diagonally with it twirling around my finger before I grasped it properly as I aimed it at my head. "If we can't get out, neither can they. Gonna have to fight them anyways, so why not get it over with!" **BANG**

Surt sprang out of my head and unleashed a Maragidyne, blasting both Shadows with powerful flames. They were surprised by the sudden attack and got knocked back a short ways, and Aigis followed up with a hail of gunfire from her finger guns. Fortune took a few hits, but Strength darted out of the way of the barrage.

Strength then decided to focus his energy or something, because it started doing this Dragonball Z style glowing thing before it stabbed forward with its staff, launching a pointed blast of orange energy at Aigis. It did very little damage, however, so it must be a Pierce-type Physical attack.

"Aigis, you handle Strength!" I called out, summoning Shade's Claws overtop of my gauntlets. "I'll deal with Fortune! And make sure you let me know when you need assistance!"

"Understood!" She replied, darting past me and running up to Strength and squaring off with it.

I looked over at Fortune. Kinda fitting I get to deal with the one I share a name with, methinks. Its hand shot to the grip of its revolver and I dove out of the way as it span the revolvers chamber, then fired a powerful blast of energy to leave a shallow crater where I'd been standing. Hoo boy, this is going to be tricky.

I charged towards Fortune, only for it to pull out a second revolver and spin the chambers on both. I dove aside again before a pair of slightly less destructive looking blasts shot past me. OKAY. Stay away from this asshole! I opted to just forgo the claws, and instead switched to Cu Chulainn and evoked him for a Power Charge before dodging another pair of blasts from Fortune.

_'Why does it keep spinning its revolver chambers before firing?'_

It's the Arcana FORTUNE. Luck and fate and all that jazz. It's basicly playing Russian Roulette with us with a fully loaded gun, except each 'bullet' is a different level of horrible death for us.

_'Well fuck.'_

Couldn't have said it better myself.

**BANG**

Cu Chulainn surged forth again, lunging at the Arcana Fortune with his spear at the ready. The Shadow attempted to block, but the Vile Assault the Persona unleashed went right through him. Yay Power Charge.

_{Roy-kun! Aigis needs help!}_

'Thanks Fuuka. He's on it.'

Indeed. Switch to Titania and… **BANG** Mediarama! This is easily my best healing Persona, and thanks to the Social Link with Yukari, it knows Divine Grace, which doubles the power of healing skills. Also has Mind Charge, which is like Power Charge, except for attack spells like Bufudyne or Megido.

Speaking of attack spells… **BANG** Mind Charge, switch to Surt, dodge the fucking LASER MISSILES THAT ALMOST BLEW UP IN MY FACE, and **BANG** Agidyne, bitch! Fortune didn't take too kindly to that, and rather violently set his revolvers a' spinning.

And then he went Spam attack crazy on me.

Shit, crap, bitch, fuck, dodge, avoid, duck, jump, barrel roll, switch to Kurama Tengu and BANG throw a Masukunda at these two assholes so I have an easier time not getting SHOT and Aigis can have an easier time not getting hit by Tae Kwon Stickman with a staff, then channel a Cruel Attack through my hand and fire it like a missile into Fortune's stupid face and knock him to the ground.

Okay, while he's busy trying to remember what century it is and which way is Canada, think Roy. It'd be easy to run up and start wailing on him, but he gets a bajillion times more trigger happy that close and he might start attacking when I rush for him, so it'd be safer to attack from range. Only ranged attacks I've got are spells and Personas, plus the Evoker Gun mod that I just now remembered and Skill Card bombs… Wait, Skill Card Bombs would be handy, but I don't have a lot of cards… Unless… Hey, Shade.

_'Yeah?'_

Would it be possible to use Wild Card bullshit hacks to magic me up more Skill Cards?

_'Magic them up how? As in, get them from the Personas before they'd normally spit 'em out?'_

That, or just make duplicates of ones I already have. Or hell, even make cards out of other skills my 'sonas got.

_'…You know, it might be. Start simple and see if you can dupe the cards, Fortune's starting to get back up.'_

Shit, he is getting up, OKAY. Where's that Megido card Samael gave me… AH HA. Right there. Now, concentrate… YES! It works! It fucking works! Holy shit, this is awesome.

Fortune staggered upright and was fuming mad. It got the chambers on its guns spinning like god damn electrical turbines before it really started opening up on my ass.

Yay for Masukunda, though, because only a fraction of his laser beam thingies hit my awesome armored clothes. I still think that's the best stuff Elizabeth gives me. It's badass, functional, AND stylish! That said, beam spam is painful, so you know what, it's time to see how this bitch likes three Megido cards flying at its face!

_Fwip fwip fwip_ **BLAM BLAM BLAM**

Damn, that was more effective then I thought!

_'And at only a fraction of the SP cost of using Megido three times.'_

Seriously?

_'Eyup. You can spam attack with those things.'_

…Kickass. Best not to overdo it when I'm still getting the hang of this, though, so only five more it is! I hurled the cards at the shadow, and it blasted one out of the air before the others blew up in its face, causing it to stagger around slightly.

Okay, Megido sucks for spam attacking. It doesn't have a large blast radius or do very much damage. Plan B! Getsu-ei bombs! I created three copies of the card and chucked them at the Shadow as I sidestepped another blast, catching a glimpse of Aigis still brawling with Strength.

Fortune sniped two of the Getsu-ei cards out of the air, but the third impacted it in the leg, forcing him down to one knee.

_'Hey, Fuuka, how's Aigis doing?'_

_{She's fine, but the Shadow is putting up a tough fight… Are you sure you two can handle them?}_

Yeah, we got this. What's everyone else doing out there?

_{Junpei-kun and Akihiko-senpai are still trying to get through the barrier.}_

Get 'em to stop. Shade thinks the only way to bring it down is to kill Strength. By the way, how's the Arcana Fortune looking? I can't tell if I'm hurting it all that much or not.

_{I'll check…}_ Fuuka replied as I kept dodging blasts and throwing skill cards at the Shadow. _{You've at least depleted half of its stamina!}_

Alright thanks. You stick to helping Aigis, okay? Shade's got my back.

_{Okay!}_

I switched back to Titania for a moment and summoned her for another Mediarama, mainly because I wasn't doing too hot myself. I dove under a massive blast from Fortune, channeling a Mind Charge. I switched to Cu Chulainn and channeled a power charge, then got a Tarukaja from one of my other 'sonas. I set Kurama Tengu as my active Persona again, then made a mad dash towards the Shadow.

It kept shooting, and I dodged around most of its attacks, getting hit a few times while blasting Tengu out of my head twice, once for another Masukunda, and then again for a Marakunda to make the Shadow easier to harm. Once I was close enough, I switched back to Cu Chulainn and charged Vile Assault into my right hand, then punched the Arcana Fortune in the face. The shadow flew backwards and slammed into the back part of Strength's wall and slumped to the ground. It staggered back up, then its guns began glowing.

That cannot be good.

A moment later, it slammed the two revolvers together, which caused a quick burst of light before it was holding a revolver RIFLE in its hands.

WELL SHIT, now I REALLY pissed him off.

_'NO, YA THINK?'_

I switched back to Tengu as Fortune opened fire with his new gun. And now he fires even BIGGER fucking laser beams. GREAT. I'm lucky I avoided that one… Quick check on Aigis and she's still goin' at it with Strength. Seems to be having the opposite problem that I am; Strength wants to fight up close, while Aigis wants to get back a little and shoot it.

**BLAM**

GAH, SHIT! That was my fucking SHOULDER. Quick switch to Titania, channel Mediarama, back to Tengu because he's the fastest Persona I've got which makes dodging easier, now charge this asshole. It kept firing at me, but it's a lot slower with the shots because it's using a single weapon as opposed to dual wielding, so getting close was easier this time.

I threw a punch, and it blocked with its arm so I punched with my other hand and caught it in the area it would have a jaw if it was human. Fortune retaliated by swinging at me with his rifle, and the two of us quickly descended into an exchange of blows while he kept trying to shoot me point blank and failing.

_{Roy-kun! Aigis is in trouble again!}_

I did a low sweep kick to trip the Shadow, then looked over at Aigis. She's not lookin' too hot, and that Shadow is getting the upper hand on her. Okay, enough screwing around.

Let's get DANGEROUS.

I hopped back as Fortune tried to grab my leg and pulled out a Cadenza gem. It's that time again. I crushed the gem in my hand and channeled all the released energy into myself. Let there be Wesker-Fu, mother fuckers.

Fortune tried to take a shot at me, but I evaded it like it was nothing and grabbed the Shadow by the face and pinned him against the wall. I switched to Surt.

"Burn." I growled, then channeled an Agidyne through my hand and set the shadow a blaze. I almost forgot I still had a Mind Charge going. It screamed in agony, then I slammed it down onto the ground, let go, and crushed its head under my foot. The Shadow evaporated into nothingness, and I quickly turned my attention to Aigis.

She's seriously getting pushed back by this asshole. That ain't gonna fly, bud. I darted over and blind-sided the Shadow with a Power Charged shoulder tackle, sending it flying into the wall of its own barrier.

"Thank you for the assistance."

"No problem." Titania. **BANG **Mediarama.

I moved to the opposite side of Aigis to dodge a blast from Strength, who was back on his feet and looking pretty pissed. At least I assume so, its glowing circle eyes are now angry-looking half-circles. It lunged in our direction, and I darted behind it, grabbed the tails of its headband and yanked on them, causing it to stumble backwards for me to clothesline it in the back of the head. I moved out of the way as Aigis opened fire hitting the Shadow repeatedly before it sprang back to its feet and charged at Aigis.

To remind it not to forget I was here, I ran up and punched it in the head again, causing it to turn its attention to me just in time for the Cadenza to wear off. Strength came at me with its staff, and I blocked and parried its attacks while throwing some of my own back at it.

_'Hey, Fuuka, what's the status on Strength?'_

_{It's got at least twice the stamina Fortune did.}_ She reported as I continued trading blows with the Shadow.

Duely noted- Block, grab, knee it in the gut-, Fuuka. I shoved Strength back and channeled a Power Charge before shoving a Vile Assault through my leg as I kicked it in the side, sending it skidding along the ground. I quickly switched to Tengu again and summoned him twice to drop Marakunda and Masukunda on the Shadow as it got back up just in time for Palladion to ram into it. The Persona disappeared, and Strength started glowing DBZ style again before a small burst of energy erupted around it and the glowing turned into sorta flame-lookin' stuff coming off of it.

It mo- HOLY SHIT, BLOCK THE STAFF, AVOID THE KICK, SHOVE HIM AWAY, THEN BACK THE FUCK UP. Damn he's fast all of a sudden! And Shit, he's gotten stronger! I think he just Turned Red.

_'I wonder if that means he's three times faster.'_

Oh be quiet. Two can play at that game, jerkass. I dove out of the way of a hadouken as I yanked another Cadenza gem out and gave myself Wesker-Fu again. I ran at the Shadow and the two of us exchanged high-speed blows for a moment or two before Palladion rammed Strength again. Good work, Aigis.

Taking the advantage, I came down on Strength like a ton of bricks. I punched it in the head, stomped on its foot, drove my knee into its chest, and otherwise pummeled the hell out of it. Unfortunately for the Shadow, his Wesker-Fu didn't last as long as mine did so now he's moving slower as I continue to wail on him. I grabbed his arm and kicked his legs out from under him, then threw him over my shoulder at Aigis, who naturally send Palladion at it to drive him into the ground.

A small dust cloud was kicked up, but the Shadow staggered up and out of it, leaning on that staff of his.

God damn, is this guy made of fucking Iron or something?

Aigis started firing at it again, and it tried using its staff to deflect the attacks. It may not actually be near death, but it's certainly been knocked for a loop and it wasn't able to block all of Aigis' shots.

Or Cu Chulainn's Torrent Shot when I evoked him to attack Strength from behind. That really must've pissed the shadow off, because it started its DBZ charge again, only this time it split its staff into a pair of tonfas.

What is it with Shadows and crazy bullshit weapons?

Doin' his firey orange glowy Wesker-Fu again, Strength shot towards me and we got into another close range brawl. This time he's even faster, which is bad because I think my Cadenza's running out now. I got smacked around a lot before I finally managed to catch his arm and give him a power charged punch to the face to send him flying into a leaping kick from Aigis to drive him down into the ground again.

And just like the last time, Strength got right back up. I'm getting sick of this. Persona Switch.

I grinned sinisterly at the Shadow. It looked in my direction, then its eyes widened in fear. It started slowly backing away from me, looking completely and utterly terrified.

Good.

I sucked in a breath, then let out a haunting scream as blue-black mist filled the air just above the ground within the orange barrier.

The shadow panicked even more, especially once arms rose from the mist and grabbed its legs. It looked down and struggled against them, then a pair of ghostly silhouettes rose from behind it and grabbed its arms. Strength looked back at them and really started freaking out. It thrashed and pulled against the arms, then another form rose from the mist behind it in the form of the classical Grim Reaper; hooded cloak, Scythe, and everything. The Shadow looked back with fear in its eyes as the Reaper raised his blade, then brought it down on the Arcana Strength.

The Shadow screamed in agony as it was rent asunder by the scythe of death and melted into nothingness as the blue-black mist vanished.

Evil Smile and Ghastly Wail. Never tried that combo before, but now that I have, I like it. Glad I decided to bring along Mot, despite him bein' a pretty weak 'sona. And hey, the barrier's gone now! Sweet.

"Roy-kun! Aigis!"

I let out a sigh of relief as the rest of SEES approached the two of us.

"You okay, dude?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied. "Nothing a little Diarama can't cure."

"Good work defeating the Shadows." Mitsuru said with a smile. "Very impressive."

"This time, those two who call themselves Strega did not interfere." Aigis noted.

That's true, actually. Haven't heard from them in a while.

"It must be because we have Chidori." commented Yukari. "Anyway, I'm glad everything went well. But, what happened to Shinjiro and Ken?"

Akihiko frowned, then put his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"The Chairman doesn't seem to be too concerned, so he went home."

Fucking Sketchtsuki…

"Yamagishi, where are those two?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't been able to locate them yet."

Mitsuru sighed. "Let's return to the dorm, and then go from there."

I looked at Akihiko again. He's really wracking his brain about something.

"Akihiko, are you listening?"

"Today is… October Fourth, huh…?" He commented absently, then he turned away. "Just go back without me. I'm gonna go look for them for a while."

"Whoa, hold it." I said, putting a hand on Aki's shoulder before he could walk away. "What's so special about today?"

_'OH FUCK!'_

"GAH!" I shouted. "Jesus fuck, Shade, why did you just yell in my brain?" And why did I just complain about it out loud?

_'Revenge! Nemesis is the Greek Goddess of Revenge!'_

Huh?

**_'KEN'S PERSONA!'_**

"Roy, what's wrong?"

"Fuuka, start looking for Ken, NOW." I said quickly. "Koromaru, you're coming with me and Akihiko to look for them. Everyone else, stay here with Fuuka."

* * *

"Roy, what's the matter with you?"

I glanced over at Aki as I ran down the streets in the Dark Hour alongside him and Koromaru.

"Ken's persona is Nemesis, the Greek Goddess of Revenge." I told him. "Shinji told me about how he lost control of Castor in the past and a woman was killed, and that she had a kid who got orphaned because of it." I grimaced. "And Shade suddenly brought up the fact you and Shinjiro have been acting oddly whenever Ken's around, and that Ken's mom died two years ago, which is about the same amount of time in the past Castor went berserk."

We rounded a street corner and I continued talking. "Sometime back in August, shortly before Ken joined up with us, I found him brooding on the second floor about something. And I finally figured out what's been bugging me about Ken since the day I met him." I looked at Akihiko. "The woman Castor killed was Ken's mother, wasn't it?"

Aki winced and nodded bitterly.

"Shit..." I swore.

"R-Roy-kun! Sanada-senpai!"

What the fuck? The two of us stopped and whirled around as Koro stopped as well.

Hamuko Arisato was running towards us during the Dark Hour, clearly scared as hell.

Double Shit.

"Roy-kun, what's going on?" She pleaded as she came to a stop infront of us. "Wh-Where's Shinjiro?"

"We don't know." I replied. I looked closely at Hamuko. Thalia of the Fortune Arcana. Triple Shit. "We're looking for him ourselves, why?"

"Wh-When he walked me home this m-morning, h-he told me to c-come and find him if anything weird happened…" she stammered. "I-I was staying up late to study wh-when the lights went out and bedroom walls started bleeding…" Tears started rolling down her face. "I-I was scared, so went t-to your dorm, b-but nobody was their, so I've b-been trying to find Shinji…"

"Walked you home?" Aki asked, in a slightly confused state.

"I'll explain later." I said. "Hamuko, do you have anything of Shinjiro's on hand?"

She nodded, then held out her arm. There was a leather-strap watch around her wrist. "H-He gave this to me…"

I looked down at Koromaru. "Koro."

He barked, then moved over to Hamuko. She understood, and held her wrist down near him. Even if it's just a little, it probably has Shinjiro's scent on it. Koromaru sniffed it a few times, then began moving around the area near us. His ears perked up and he barked, then started running.

"Follow him!" I shouted, taking off after him with Akihiko and Hamuko right behind me.

* * *

"Roy-kun, what's going on?" Hamuko asked as we ran. "What's happening?"

"I'll explain later!" I said. I recognize where we're at now. We're getting close to Port Island Station, and it's still the Dark Hour. That must be where they're at.

"Roy-kun!"

"LATER!" I barked. "WE HAVE TO FIND SHINJIRO AND KEN!"

"But-!"

Hamuko's words died in her throat as a gunshot echoed through the night.

* * *

Author Notes - Next Chapter will be up soon. Very Soon.


	35. Resolutions in the Aftermath

The four of us arrived at the back alley of Port Island Station in time to see Revolver Jesus turn tail and bolt as Shinjiro was slumped over on one knee in a puddle of his own blood. Ken stood their with Gae Bolg in one hand, his eyes frozen in shock.

"Shinji!"

"SHINJIRO!" Hamuko ran over and kneeled next to him.

"H-Hamuko…?" He coughed up blood. "What are you…?" He shook his head. "Nevermind…" Shinjiro looked at Ken. "Heh, why the long face, Ken? Isn't this… what you wanted?"

Hamuko gazed at Shinjiro in wide-eyed horror as he shifted slightly.

"It's alright…" he continued. "Give yourself time. Let your anger be your strength." He smiled as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. "You're still just a kid, Ken. You got your whole life ahead of ya…" Shinjiro grimaced and clutched his chest. "So don't waste it… Make it your own… Okay?"

"Senpai!" "Shinjiro!" "Shinjiro-senpai!"

Sounds like the others caught up to us.

"But I-I…"

"Aki…" Shinji looked up at his friend. "Take care of 'im."

Akihiko bit his lip. "I will…"

"Roy… Help him out…"

I clenched my fists. "I will."

Shinjiro looked at Hamuko, and gently wiped a tear from her face. "Don't cry… Hamuko… This is… How it should be…"

He started coughing, and a spurt of blood landed on the ground at Ken's feet. He tried to stand, then collapsed to his knees before slumping to the ground.

"Shinji…" Hamuko stammered dumbly. "Shinji…?" She shook his shoulder. "Shinji… wake up…" She shook him harder. "Please wake up… Please! Shinji, wake up! WAKE UP! SHINJIRO!"

"Move." I snarled, shoving her slightly aside and slamming my palm onto Shinjiro's back. I switched to Titania and started pumping him with Mediarama. He's not dieing her. Not on my watch, god damn it.

"The hospital…" Fuuka said suddenly. "W-We need to get him to the hospital!"

"Y-Yes, let's waste no time…" Mitsuru agreed, then she hasped. "It's the Dark Hour… until it ends, the doctors won't be…"

"THEN SOMEONE FUCKING HELP ME!" I snapped, putting my other hand on Shinjiro and pouring every healing skill I had into his body. "HE'S GONNA FUCKING BLEED TO DEATH IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING!"

"R-Right!" Yukari kneeled next to me and started pouring her own Dia skills into Shinjiro.

I heard Ken fall to his knees and begin sobbing loudly. Hamuko's own sobs joined with his into a haunting melody that filled the air of the sickeningly green world illuminated by a yellow moon.

* * *

If there was one thing that went right, it's that the Dark Hour ended moments later. Mitsuru wasted no time calling an ambulance. I rode in the back with Akihiko while everyone else, Hamuko included, got a ride from some Kirijo driver Mitsuru had on speed dial.

We all waited in the hall outside of the hospital room silently. Hamuko and Ken refused to look up from their feet. Junpei had his cap pulled down to shield his eyes. Fuuka was nervously playing with the hem of her sleeve. Yukari sat next to Fuuka, her own eyes cast downward. Aki and Mitsuru leaned against a wall together. Aigis stood next to me while Koro was sitting at my feet as I sat on a chair by myself. The doctors didn't put up a fuss about him because, ya know, they had a dude with gunshot wounds in his chest to take care of.

The doctor eventually came out and informed us that Shinjiro was going to live. But at a cost. He's in a coma, and they don't think he'll ever wake up. None of us said anything the rest of the night, not even as we dropped Hamuko off at her apartment.

The next day at School saw me getting odd looks from a lot of people. Contrary to how I've been dressing the entire year, I wore the straight school uniform today out of respect. Okay, maybe not the tie, but I had the dress shirt under my jacket, which was buttoned up for once, and had my hair combed neatly under my hat.

Hamuko wasn't at school today. At lunch, I wandered around aimlessly and was stopped near the shoe lockers by the Principal. Finally found out his last name, actually. Ewano.

"I wish to offer you my condolences." He said to me. "I was informed of what happened to Aragaki this past night. I understand you were in the same dorm as him."

I nodded.

"Hey, you hear about what happened to that Aragaki guy?"

The two of us turned our attention to a pair of seniors who were talking a short distance away near the bulletin board.

"No, I didn't. Why?"

"I heard he's in the hospital." Said the first. "He got shot or something." Fuck, news travels fast. Son of a bitch.

"Really?" The other guy raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Eh, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't know him, and I heard he always hung out behind Port Island station and that he didn't come to school much. Prolly just some punk."

I twitched noticeably. I would knock their fucking heads together if the Principal wouldn't expel my ass.

"Go ahead."

I looked over at him. He didn't look very happy either.

"Go ahead." He repeated. "Just don't overdo it."

I smiled. "Thank you, Ewano-sensei." I stalked over to the two guys. They looked at me as I approached.

"What do you wa-" The first guy's words were cut off as I grabbed him and his friend and slammed their heads together.

"Have some fucking respect, assholes!" I snapped as the two of them staggered around. "He took a fucking bullet in the chest for an elementary school kid!"

I spun on my heels and marched up to my classroom. I grabbed my school bag, then marched back out towards the front of the school and out of the building.

* * *

I ended up finding Akihiko at the Iwatodai Station about half an hour later.

"Hey." I grunted.

"Hey." He grunted back. "Thought you went to school."

"Fuck that noise, I'm skippin' the rest of the fuckin' day." I replied. "You?"

"Same."

I nodded slightly. "Cool."

"Wanna go to Hagakure?" Aki asked. "Shinji always said that ramen tastes better when you're cutting class."

"Sure. I'm hungry."

* * *

Shinji was right. Skipping ramen is fuckin' epic. After our bowls, we headed to the Hospital. The two of us glared at the 'No Visitors Allowed' sign and went inside.

"Yo." Aki greeted his comatose friend. "You look pretty good. So how long you gonna lie around sleeping there?"

"Yeah." I agreed.

"We had the usual for lunch." He continued, chuckling. "You were right. Ramen tastes a lot better when you're cutting class." He smirked. "Make sure you invite us next time."

"Mmhm."

The sound of the life support equipment was the only noise in the room for a few moments.

"Say something, will ya?" asked Akihiko. "Why are you always like that? You're so stubborn. Put yourself in my shoes for a change…" He looked at Shinjiro. "You think it's the other way around, huh? I guess you're right…" He fell to his knees next to Shinjiro's bed. "I was too obsessed with power… Ever since I lost Miki, that's all I've cared about… I thought that if I was strong enough, that I could protect anyone…"

I silently stepped back and leaned against the door. It's not my place to add to this.

"But I was wrong… and now look at you!" continued Aki. "What am I supposed to do if I lose you too? Shinji… Don't leave me behind!" He collapsed onto the bed. "You can hear me, can't you? Wake up…! Snap out of it…! Shinji…!"

Aki broke down into quiet sobs. I tugged down the brim of my hat slightly. A minute or two later, Akihiko stood back up.

"Yeah, I know…" He said. "Crying won't change anything, will it…" He looked at Shinjiro. "Alright, Shinji…" He turned back to face me. "You watch from here. I still have things to do, right…?"

_**'I am thou… and thou art I…'**_

Polydeuces appeared next to Akihiko.

_**'From the sea of thine soul, the resolution of thine heart calls forth new power…'**_

Lightning arced around the Persona before forming a pillar of energy around it. It died down a moment later, and a black-skinned Persona with white armor holding a globe in his right hand with a sword stabbed through it stood in Polydeuces' place.

_**'Polydeuces has given rise to Caesar!'**_

"I know that much." Akihiko said as Caesar vanished. "I can't carry this guilt forever…" His expression hardened. "I'm getting tired of it."

"Words to live by." I said, standing up straight. "Let's get back."

"Yeah." Akihiko started towards the door and opened it, then stopped and looked at me. "And thanks for coming with me."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

I smiled. "Anytime, Aki."

* * *

The two of us headed back to the dorm, and Mitsuru was only moderately disgruntled with us skipping when she got there. We gathered in the Command Room once everyone was back for some serious business.

"You all know the reason we're gathered here." Mitsuru stated. "We need to discuss how to deal with Amada… I've already consulted the Chairman. Aigis, bring Amada here."

"Understood." She turned and walked out of the room.

"It's my fault…" Fuuka said. "When Shinjiro-senpai told me he'd be late, I thought it was strange, but I said nothing. If only I'd listened to my intuition…"

"You and me both, Fuuka." I added bitterly. "I knew there was something wrong with Ken from the get go and I didn't look into it."

Yukari looked at the two of us with sympathy. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourselves…"

"It's nor your fault." affirmed Mitsuru. "If anyone should have realized it, it should have been me."

"I knew this wasn't a game…" Junpei scowled. "But, I never thought it'd end up like this…"

"There's no point dwelling on the past." stated Akihiko. "Shinji said 'This is how it should be'. He's a hell of a guy… he even faced what he thought would be his death head on." His expression hardened. "That's why, from this day forward, I'll face things head on as well."

Junpei nodded slowly. "That's cool, man…"

Yukari flinched. "Senpai…"

Aigis suddenly burst back into the room. "Allow me to report! Amada-san is not in his room!"

"He's not?" Yukari asked in a panic.

"There are indications that the window has been pried open."

"Ken-kun!" Fuuka shot to her feet and ran towards the door.

"Wait, Fuuka!" Yukari called out, causing the shorter girl to stop. "Do you know where he is?"

"Well… no…" She trailed of for a moment, then shook her head. "But we can't just let him go off on his own, right?"

"So, where do you plan on looking?"

"I don't know, but we have to find him!" Fuuka shouted. "He must feel so alone…"

"Fuuka…"

"You of all people should understand!" Fuuka snapped.

The room was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry…" began Fuuka. "I didn't mean to…"

"Let Ken do what he wants."

We all looked at Akihiko.

"Bringing him back won't change anything." He said firmly. "And we can't keep treating him like a kid."

"Akihiko…"

"It's his choice." He continued. "He's the only one who can decide how he's going to live his life." He looked around the room. "The same goes for all of us."

"Yeah." I agreed. "He'll be back when he's ready." I frowned. "But we've got another issue."

"Another issue?" Yukari asked.

"Thalia. Fortune Arcana. Greek Grace of Good Cheer." I said. "Persona of Hamuko Arisato."

"Oh yeah… Her…" Yukari's face fell.

"We'll have to bring her to the dorm to explain everything." Mitsuru noted with a sigh. "I wasn't expecting to find another Persona-user…"

"None of us were, but we did." I stated. "We'll just have to sort this out." I stood up. "I'll bring her by the dorm tomorrow after school." I looked at Mitsuru. "Alright?"

She nodded in response.

"Shiny."

* * *

Thankfully, Hamuko was at school the next day and I told her to wait for me at the Shoe Lockers after she was done with Tennis Club. I told her it was about Shinjiro, and she merely nodded and agreed to it.

Me? After class I went to see Andre at Fashion Club.

I finally figured out what the hell I've been making the entire time I've been coming here, which is good but not totally important.

"Zeeeere we goooo!" He cheered suddenly. "I'm finished!" He held up the kimono he was working on. Damn. He does good work.

"Way to go, Andre." I smirked. "That's some quality work, man."

He sniffled a little. "Thanks, Roy-sama. Your words will always 'ave a place in my 'eart." He shook his head quickly, a fierce look and a confident smirk on his face. "When my uncle sees this, he'll let me come back to Japan for sure! It's time for HIM to concede!"

"That's the spirit!" I agreed, finishing the last bits of work on my project.

"I must 'urry up and go see 'im!" Andre's face fell. "So, I will 'ave to say goodbye for a little while… Sayonara…" He looked at me. "But, I'll be back! I will not give in to my uncle!" He fidgeted a little. "Roy-sama…" He walked over to me. "Please, take zis!"

Andre handed me a dark red scarf with a slightly lighter red wisp-like pattern on it. Wait, I recognize this fabric…

"I made it from ze leftover material." He told me. "It eez a sign of our friendship! So please, wait for my return, Roy-sama." He smiled. "My favorite memories from Nihon… are all ze times we hung out togezer."

"I'll be expecting you back." I said, standing up. "And before you go, I have something for you as well."

I held up a dark blue fedora-looking hat with a black band and a Spade symbol stitched on the right side near the front of it. Yeah, that's what I've apparently been working on this entire time.

Andre took it from me and carefully put it on. It actually fit pretty damn well. I'm impressed with myself.

"Roy-sama…" His eyes started to water. "Z-Zank you so…"

Andre started crying happily. I feel both warm and fuzzy and very glad nobody else is around to see this because then I would have to murder them.

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Temperance Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Yurlangur, the ultimate form of the Temperance Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

"It makes me sad, but…" Andre choked out. "Tomorrow, I must go…" He bowed slightly, then started out the door, stopping and looking back. He did my trademark salute. "Sayonara, Roy-sama!"

I saluted back, the scarf he gave me dangling around my neck. "Later Days, Andre!"

* * *

After Andre left, I sighed to myself as I waited for Hamuko at the Shoe Lockers. I'm gonna miss that French nutball. Actually… thinking about it, I haven't spent much time with Chihiro since I maxxed her Social Link. Or Bunkichi and Mitsuko. Or Kaz and Rio. Or Hidetoshi. Tanaka's gone to do other stuff and probably won't want to see me again, and Maiko's gone as well.

I sighed again. I'll have to talk with them all again at some point. At least the ones who're still around.

"Roy-kun."

I looked over. Hamuko was approaching me with a blank expression.

"Hamuko." I nodded at her. "Let's go. We've got a lot to talk about back at the dorm."

* * *

There was a heavy silence in the dorm lounge once Hamuko and I got there.

"Ken back yet?" I asked.

Yukari shook her head as the two of us approached the sofas. "No. It's already been a day…"

"…Yes, it has." Mitsuru commented absently.

"So, where's Akihiko-san?" asked Junpei.

"He said to leave Ken-kun alone, but I don't know…" Fuuka looked down. "Maybe we should look for him…"

Mitsuru turned to me. "What's your opinion?"

"Let him be." I stated. "He'll be back when he wants to come back."

Fuuka shot to her feet. "I can't wait any longer! I'm groin right now to-"

Koromaru got up and started barking, then ran over to the door. It opened, and Ken walked in.

"Ken-kun!"

Yukari and Fuuka darted over to him. Hamuko and I just turned around.

"Thank goodness…" Fuuka sighed. "I was so worried…"

Ken blinked. "You were?"

Everyone else crowded around him.

"Amada…" began Mitsuru. "Are you able to fight?"

He nodded seriously. "Yes. I won't run off again."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive."

Fuuka blinked. "It's alright… we can trust him…"

"Geez, don't make us worry like that, okay?"

"…Alright, I'll talk to the Chairman." Mitsuru said, then she turned to Hamuko. "Arisato."

"Kirijo-senpai." She said coldly.

I sighed. "Well, I guess it's time we get down to the whole reason we called you here…" I hopped over the nearest sofa and sat down. "Have a seat, this is gonna take a while."

* * *

About three hours later, we finally finished explaining all the details to Hamuko. The Dark Hour, Shadows, Personas, Strega, and the Full Moon Arcana Shadows. Her reaction to Aigis was a loud 'I KNEW IT!', which was actually moderately hilarious. We also got an explanation about what happened the morning after she spent the night here. On the way back to her house, he suddenly told her to come find him or anyone else from the dorm if anything weird happened. He had her promise him she would. My guess as to why? They cuddled or whatever and she fell asleep. Dark Hour hit, Shinji saw her not transmogged next to him and had a small panic attack. He had her promise to come to SEES for help, just to put his mind at ease before he went to what he must've assumed would be his demise. Not like he probably had much time left anyway, what with those damn pills killing him.

"That man… Takaya, you said his name was?" Hamuko asked. I nodded. "He's the one who shot Shinji… who was protecting Ken-kun, because Ken-kun lied and said he had Fuuka-san's power…?"

Ken nodded sadly. "That's right…"

She was silent after that. I could see the gears working in her head. It's a lot to take in.

"So… if you guys destroy that last Shadow… the Dark Hour will be gone, right?"

I nodded. "That's the gist of it."

Hamuko was silent again for a few moments as she stared at her feet, then she looked back up at us. "I want to help."

I looked her straight in the eye. "You sure?"

She stared right back at me. "Absolutely. The Dark Hour is the reason Shinji got hurt." Her gaze became a slight glare. "I'll get rid of it with my own hands for him."

"You're completely sure?" I asked. "What if you get hurt?"

"I don't care." She replied firmly. "I'll kill that last Shadow with my bare hands if I have to." her hands clenched into fists. "That way Shinji can wake up and not have to worry about it ever again. I'll make him proud."

_**'I am thou… and thou art I…'**_

Suddenly, a figure appeared behind Hamuko, floating in the air slightly. It looked like a grey-skinned woman in a combination ballroom gown and jester costume with a blue and black color scheme and matching jester cap. Black hair reached down to her shoulders, and she had a smiling harlequin mask for a face. Her Persona, Thalia.

_**'From the sea of thine soul, the resolution of thine heart calls forth new power.'**_

Ice formed all around the Persona, and it was completely blue in color for a moment before it shattered into snow. In Thalia's place was an elegant woman wearing an armored dress. The skirt reached down to just past her knees, and the top was a formed breastplate with small shoulder guards. It had no sleeves to speak of, instead the Persona's lower arms had metal bracers on them. Her skin was a darker shade of grey then Thalia's was, and her face, which was somewhat neutral looking, was clearly visible. In her right hand, she held a crystal chalice. Her hair was as steely blue color, and a dark blue metal circlet rested around her head, matching the color of her armor.

_**'Thalia has given rise to Hebe!'**_

Hebe vanished a moment later, and there was an awed silence over the group, sans Ken, Akihiko, and myself.

"Wh-What just happened?" Hamuko asked, moderately confused.

"Your Resolution." I told her. "Koromaru had one. Akihiko had one." I looked over at Ken. "Ken did, too." I looked back at Hamuko. "As far as I'm concerned, it means you're one of us now."

I stood up and held out a hand to Hamuko. She stood as well and shook it.

"Welcome to SEES." I said, just as the Dark Hour hit. "And welcome to the Dark Hour. It ain't no fun and games."

* * *

Author Notes - And so ends the Infamous Events of October 4th. And HA! I really doubt any of you saw this coming. Hamuko's in SEES now, and she's got her own, unique persona! The reasons I picked Thalia and Hebe for her 'sonas will be made clear in a later chapter. Things are really gonna start goin' crazy now. Also, how'd I do on the fight scene with the Arcana Fortune? It took up the majority of Chapter 34 because I really wanted to flex my fight scene muscles and see if I could pull one that long off. But enough about that, it's time for reviews!

Post-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - No, Hamuko's persona is not related to Roy maxing any Social Link. The reasons behind her awakening a Persona will appear later. And the Fear Combo is something I read about on TV Tropes, and I wanted to include it in the fight because I thought I could make it awesome. I seriously hope I succeeded at that. As for KyKiske7's P3P walkthrough, no, I haven't been watching that because I actually HAVE a PSP and P3P. Granted, i haven't played in a while because I've been writing(also because it feels like a chore because I'm doing an Orpheus Telos playthrough and am following a guide which kinda kills some of the fun), but I still have it. And I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Threre's plenty more to come!

Okay, reviews over. And once again, Happy Battle of Nyx Day! Here's to Minato & Hamuko Arisato and their bajillion alternate universe selves saving our sorry asses from Nyx!


	36. Dystopian Awareness

Pre-chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - Hamuko having a Persona has been the plan from the very beginning. I enjoy the thought I messed with people's heads by telling them that she'd just be a cameo. And yeah, most of AFNF runs on the Female Path because there's parts of the Male Path that bug me a little.

**eggmiester** - You'll find out what, if anything, I have planned for Shinjiro when the rest of the readers do. Fortune was not actually based on any gunslinger, just the archtype. And Strength was based on the 3rd Job of the character Jin from Grand Chase. I've never actually played Enlsaved, and it doesn't seem likely that I ever will. And trust me, once the next full moon comes around, imma be kickin' out all the stops and seriously letting the insanity of my mind cut loose. Just wait till you see the stuff I have planned for Ryoji! :D

And now, on with the Chapter!

* * *

I went to my room shortly after that while Mitsuru started going over the details of getting Hamuko into the dorm with her. Pharos was there waiting for me.

"Hello." He said as I entered. "It's cold tonight. Can you believe it's already autumn. It'll be winter before you know it."

"Yay." I commented with a dull tone as I put on my pajamas.

"You seem tired… Did something happen?"

"I thought you were always watching me." I said. "So how come you don't know what happened to Shinjiro? He almost died."

"Is that so?" Pharos tilted his head curiously. "In this world, people die every day. Until recently, this was the same as the blowing of the wind." he stood up and looked out the window as I sat down on my bed. "But now, I see things differently…" He looked at me with a smile. "For the first time, I have a friend." He frowned. "Lately, though, I've become more certain of something…"

Eyebrow. "What?"

"You know the end I've spoken of?" He asked. I nodded. "Some people refer to it as 'the Fall', but regardless… It's drawing nearer. Don't you sense it…?"

I shook my head. "Only things I sense are Arcana and Personae."

"I see…" Pharos sat back down next to me. "We are kindred spirits, you and I, so why is that only I can remember?" He sighed. "This is a heartrending matter." He looked at me sadly. "Is my existence something you are unable to accept?"

"Nope." I said, patting him on the shoulder. "Sure, I've been wondering what your deal is a little bit from the first time we met, but you're my friend so it doesn't matter to me what you are."

Pharos smiled. "Thank you. Forgive me if I have said anything peculiar today… perhaps it is the change of seasons." He hopped to his feet. "Of course, our friendship remains steadfast." He started towards the door and turned around. "Well, I shall bit you farewell for now." He saluted me as he backed towards the door. "Good night." He vanished through the door and I chuckled to myself a little.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Death Arcana._

I wonder what'd be like if he hung around more then just during the Dark Hour. Probably endless source of comedy between him, me, and Shade.

_'Probably.'_

You've been quiet.

_'You're not taking what happened well.'_

Of course not. Fucking Revolver Anti-Christ almost killed Shinjiro in the god damn Dark Hour.

_'Okay, you're taking it better then I thought.'_

Wait, really?

_'Yeah. I was predicting a complete raging storm of angry when I brought it up, not something that short and to the point.'_

No one can change the past. Anyone can change the future.

_'Heh, goin' with what you know?'_

Pretty much. Speaking of which, we're gonna check out the Velvet Room tomorrow.

_'Good call. I checked with Igor, and you're strong enough for Thor.'_

We're getting Mjolnir with the help of the Antique shop lady.

_'Fuck yes Mjolnir. Still gotta pick up the Surt Sword, too.'_

Oh yeah, huh? She never brought it to the dorm.

* * *

Hamuko wasn't at the dorm in the morning, so she's probably moving in either later today or tomorrow. Speaking of her, I bumped into her at the gate.

"Good morning, Roy-kun!" She said in her usual cheery tone.

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Morning… you okay?"

"Mmhm." She nodded.

I looked at her seriously. "Are you okay?"

Her smile wavered slightly. She's not okay.

I sighed. "Shinjiro's gonna be fine. Trust me. I pumped him with enough healing spells to fix up a small army."

Hamuko nodded. "Okay. Thanks Roy-kun."

I smiled. "No problem."

* * *

Yukari kidnapped me at lunch and dragged me up to the roof again.

And once again, she just stood their silently. Normally I'd indulge her, but she's keeping me from my lunch and I am not a happy person when I'm hungry.

"Forget it, I'm leaving." I said, starting to head back into the building.

"H-Hey! Wait!" Oh NOW you want to talk. I stopped and looked back at Yukari. "How can you be so mean?" Very easily because I'm HUNGREH AND MAH BELLEH DEMANDS FOOD.

"But… There's something I want to ask you…" She continued, looking nervous. "Um… Roy… Why do you spend so much time with me? Whenever I ask you to do something, you say yes, and you ask me to do things sometimes too, right?"

I raised an eyebrow. I don't actually talk to Yukari much, but she IS right. I'm just a nice person so I sorta just roll with her kidnapping me all the damn time. Don't ask her to do much, either.

"So much has happened between us… Is it because we're both Persona-users?" She asked. "Or are we just good friends? What do you really think of me?"

If I answered that question completely honestly, it would probably cause her to throw me off the roof with a fucking doom twister. So what am I going to do? Say something that's true, but not quite the whole truth.

"We're good friends." I told her. "And it's just my nature to be nice to my friends."

"Is that so?" She looked away from me slightly. "Lately, when I see you with Fuuka, I wonder what you're talking about…" Not a lot, actually. Our conversations have been rather casual lately. "It feels like someday, my heart is going to shrink… and I'm afraid I won't feel anything anymore…" Yukari's gaze turned back to me. "So, um…" She blushed slightly. "I want you to look at me the way I look at you… Roy…"

Eyebrow. The hell is she talking about? We're friends, right?

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Lovers Arcana._

"Will you…?" Yukari shook her head quickly. "Wh-What am I saying!" She started towards the door. "I-I've gotta go!"

She ran back into the school building, leaving me very confused. For a few minutes anyways, then I shrugged. MUST HAS LUNCH.

* * *

The rest of the day was dull. I stopped by the Velvet Room to get Thor, and I lucked out hardcore because he had one of those special item thingies in him like Surt, then took him to the Antique Shop to get him stuffed into a Nihil weapon as she handed me this firey sword thing she made out of Surt. Out of curiosity, I asked her if she could make two weapons at once, and she sadly informed me she wasn't able to. I shrugged, then said I'd pick up Mjolnir in a couple of days before getting Thor back from the compendium. Nothing was going on at the dorm, but the girls were getting a room ready for Hamuko. This dorm is moderately huge. Seriously.

Next day was also boring, and I got recruited to help carry stuff up to Hamuko's room once I was back at the dorm. Mitsuru asked when I planned on heading to Tartarus to show Hamuko the ropes, and I said it'd be after exams. Once the whole carrying bit was done and Hamuko insisted on unpacking by herself, Yukari decided to kidnap me and drag my ass into her room.

Fuck I do not want to be here it sucks and this room is so fucking pink it hurts my eyes.

"For some reason, I'm feeling so nervous…" Yukari began suddenly as she sat on a cushion on the floor. I'm currently leaning on the door. "Even though it's you, Roy… Everyone's in their room, too… I hope no one finds out I snuck you in here…"

I glanced around quickly. I don't see one of those mini-cameras like the one in my room, unless it's along the wall I'm on, which would be a good thing.

"If I accidentally scream, everybody will hear me…"

Wait WHAT?

Yukari seemed to notice she didn't think before she spoke and panicked. "What am I saying!" She glared at me, blushing slightly. "Don't get the wrong idea, okay?"

"Don't care." I grunted flatly. "You wanted me in here for something, right?"

"Oh, yeah…" She stood up and reached into a pocket in her skirt that I wasn't aware existed. I still have to wonder how she can wear that damn skirt and move around as much as she does. "I wanted to give you something…" She pulled out a cellphone strap with a little toy figurine on it. "This is for you."

Yukari handed the strap to me.

"You know what it is, right? It's the strap from my cell phone." She told me. "I got it at the opening ceremony for the Moonlight Bridge. It's been my special keepsake for many years…" She looked away slightly. "…Ever since my dad bought it for me. I used to talk to the toy figurine on it when I was here in my room." Yukari giggled. "You must think I'm nuts, huh?"

I shrugged. "Everybody's got their quirks." I tucked the strap into my pocket. "You talk to inanimate objects, I talk to people in a magical blue elevator connected to a casino in my brain."

She giggled again. "You know, as I got to know you, Roy, I talked to my little friend less and less."

"Just means you finally found someone to confide in." I said to her. "Someone who can at least kinda empathize with you."

Yukari smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

Welp, another link down.

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Lovers Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Cybele, the ultimate form of the Lovers Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

I know I said I'd care more about the people in these links, but I really want to get out of Yukari's room. Sooner the better, honestly.

"Hey, Roy, when all of this is over, we should do something fun, don't ya think?"

I rubbed my chin. "Yeah… have like a big ol' party with everyone." I stood upright. "But let's think about that later, I'm gonna go to bed." I turned around and opened the door. "G'night, Yukari."

"Oh, uh… Goodnight Roy…"

Now I know another reason why I don't care much right now. I'm sleepy and it's makin' me apathetic.

* * *

The next few days were really dull. The only ones not moping around because of Shinjiro besides me were the three affected most by his coma and Koromaru. Everyone else was in a funk. I tried cheering them up, but nothing was working. Aki wanted to talk on Friday after class, so I headed up to the roof of the school with him.

"There's no one here…" he noted as we looked out at the city. "That's a pity, since the wind is so nice right now."

I chuckled a little. "Come up here often or somethin', Aki?"

He shook his head. "No, not so much lately." His mouth twitched into a small smile. "Shinji used to come up here when he skipped his classes. He'd fall asleep, so I'd come here when my club activities were over to get him…" Akihiko chuckled nostalgically. "You can see out into the distance from here… It's so far that my eyes start to hurt trying to see it all."

I laughed a little, then sighed. "Everybody's still bummed out about Shinjiro."

Aki sighed. "Yeah." He laughed. "If Shinji wasn't out of it, he'd be yelling at us all to stop moping and study."

"I can see him doing it, too." I smiled. "Hell, when he wakes up, he's probably gonna be pissed we got all mopey in the first place. It's not like it's gonna make him get better faster, right?"

"Right." He agreed. "We'll just have to finish off that last Shadow for him." He looked at me. "Right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "For Shinjiro."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Star Arcana._

"Hey, I have a question for ya."

Aki raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"What's having a resolved Persona like?"

"Not that different, actually." He laughed. "Still getting used to Caesar talking to me, though."

Eyebrow. "He talks to you now?"

Akihiko nodded. "Yeah."

I laughed. "It's kinda weird having someone who sounds just like you talking in your head, innit?"

Aki laughed as well. "Yeah, really weird."

* * *

I stopped by the mall to pick up Mjolnir and some new stuff from Kurosawa. Got back to the dorm and handed it out to everyone. I asked Hamuko if she knew what her Persona could do and if she had a preference on what sort of Shadow-slaying implement she wanted, and she said her Persona used Ice and Physical attacks and had some automatic support skills and that she knew how to use a naginata. I didn't even question why, this is Japan and we're a bunch of demon slaying high schoolers with a cute robot girl, a dog, and a twelve year old in our group. NOTHING SURPRISES ME ANYMORE.

Nothing happened the next day, but I went to get Hamuko's stuff from Kurosawa after class and gave it to her when I got back. Day after that was Sunday, so now I'm hanging out with Akinari at the shrine. He was having a hard time breathing when I got there.

"You gonna be okay, man?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yes. I got really into my reading last night and never went to sleep…" He smiled. "I thought I'd be fine since I have many nights when I'm unable to sleep because of my illness, but…" He coughed. "I guess my condition won't improve if I keep taking chances, though."

"No, it won't!" I practically shouted at him. "You should be more careful, man!"

"Yes, I suppose I need to apologize." He smiled. "It's been a long time since anybody raised their voice at me. I came all this way because I was hoping to find you. Remember how I talked about reading upbeat stories?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There are plenty of stories, but I don't think reading them will ever be able to make me feel better." stated Akinari. "The problem is, all those stories were written for someone else. I guess what I'm saying is selfish…" He laughed a little. "I'm being selfish about you, too." He looked at me. "You're always coming to see me, and I take up a lot of your time." He frowned slightly. "How much of your valuable time have you used on visiting me?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, but it doesn't bug me."

"I don't deserve it. You're spoiling me, I'm afraid." He laughed. "That's why I like you, though."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

Akinari coughed suddenly. "Sorry… it seems I used too many words today." He stood up slowly. "I'd like us to be able to speak here again some time…"

I smiled. "I can manage that. I typically never have anything to do on Sundays, anyways."

He smiled back. "Thank you." He bowed slightly. "I'll see you again."

I sighed slightly as I watched him walk away. He knows he's gonna die. He KNOWS it's gonna happen, it's just a matter of when. Shinjiro was the same way. He went to see Ken expecting his own demise. Heh. Wonder how he'll react to being alive when he wakes up.

* * *

Nothing much happened the rest of the day except Fuuka acting kinda… weird. She seemed to be avoiding me a little, actually. Shade was unusually quiet, too. Of course I have no idea what he could really be up to, so I didn't worry much about it and helped Junpei study a bit. The next day he just borrowed my notes and left me to my own devices, meaning I had nothing to do the entire freaking day. Fuuka was still avoiding me, and Shade was still quiet, so I just shrugged to myself and rotted my brain watching TV with Koromaru. Everyone else was studying, or trying to, but eh.

I eventually went to bed, then Exams happened. Shade was still quiet the first few days, so when I finished my tests early, I had some time to really think about everything that happened. The third day of exams, though, is when I realized something important when I randomly tilted my head to look in Aigis' direction.

What will happen to her when the Dark Hour is gone?

I felt a pit form in my chest. For the first time in a while, I walked back to the dorm with her after school.

"Hey, Aigis?" I began shortly after we got off the train at Iwatodai station. "What happens once the Dark Hour vanishes?"

Aigis looked at me with her head tilt. "The Shadows will vanish with it."

"I meant what happens to you."

"I cannot answer that question." She told me. "I was built solely to eliminate Shadows. Once that mission has been fulfilled, there is no reason for me to remain active. What happens next does not concern me."

"Well it concerns me!" I snapped, stopping abruptly. Aigis stopped as well and looked at me with confusion in her eyes.

"I am a machine." She said to me. "I have no purpose exce-"

"YOU ARE NOT A MACHINE!" I shouted. "You're a person! You have a mind! You have a soul! You have emotions! No machine has that, so don't write yourself off as a walking hunk of metal shaped like a person that's only there to shoot stuff till said stuff stops moving, because you're NOT." I glared at her. "And don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Aigis looked away from me slightly. "…The Chairman has informed me that my emotions are due to a flaw in m-"

She didn't finish her sentence because I suddenly hugged her.

"They are not a flaw." I said to her. "Sketchtsuki is a fucking idiot. You shouldn't listen to him." I tightened my arms around her. "And I don't want to see you stuffed into a box and forgotten somewhere, Aigis. I…" I blinked back a few tears. "I couldn't live with myself if that happened to you…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

Aigis remained stock still as I held her. I let go and moved back slightly so I could look into her eyes. They were wide and locked on me. Her expression said it all.

"You see that?" I asked, smiling. "You were confused. You have emotions like anyone else."

She blinked a few times, then suddenly hugged me herself, much to my surprise.

"Thank you, Roy-san…" She said quietly, not a trace of her usual monotone in that one sentence. I smiled again and hugged her back.

"You're welcome, Aigis."

* * *

Aigis let go of me a few minutes later and we finally got back to the dorm, though due to exams the rest of the week nothing much happened, but I was in a much better mood. Aigis has that kind of affect on me. First thing after exams were over, though, Junpei wanted to go to Tartarus. So that's what we're doing.

"Alright." I said once we entered the lobby. "Akihiko, Ken, Hamuko, and Aigis are coming up with me." I pulled out the card I kept Mjolnir in and summoned the weapon to my hand and rested it over my shoulder. "We're gonna find out just how much more powerful your Personae are now and give Hamuko a crash course on Shadow killing."

"Alright." Ken nodded and hefted Gae Bolg. "Any reason you're using a hammer, Roy-san?"

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards slightly as I looked away from Ken. "Shinjiro can't be here to squish Shadows himself, so I'm gonna pick up the slack for him till he gets back."

* * *

Okay, let the record officially state that Resolved Personae are fucking HARDCORE. Akihiko's Zio spells are insane now, and due to the new Elemental Boost Bracers I gave everyone, he can damn near disintegrate anything that doesn't at least resist Electricity in a single attack. On top of that, He's started getting multi-target debuff spells, which makes it even more brutal.

Ken, on the other hand, is now a Yukari-level Healer. Kala-Nemi is also fucking awesome, because it looks like some kind of epic robot thing with huge shoulders. While it does have Zio skills, they're single target only but damn near MORE destructive then Akihiko's are. His Hama skills also got an upgrade and they're more accurate then most of the ones I can throw around, though sadly it doesn't seem like he's gonna get the Area of effect versions of it. Still handy, though.

As for Hamuko and Hebe, they're like some kind of weird hybrid of Junpei, Mitsuru, and Aigis. Hamuko's Bufu abilities are almost on par with Mitsuru's, and her Persona specializes in Piercing type physical attacks, but her Auto-Kajas are the real attraction. Her Persona can basicly instantly give us kaja support as soon as Shadows appear without us having to power ourselves on purpose. So far she only has Auto-Matarukaja, but seeing as she also has Auto versions of Rakukaja and Sukukaja as well(though they only work on her), it's a save bet she'll get the Ma versions of them once she's more powerful.

Rather interestingly, Hamuko's Persona nullifies Ice and Resists electricity while being weak to wind. Outside of Koromaru, I hadn't seen a Persona with multiple resistances like that. The resistances for Ken and Akihiko powered up as well, and they both null their respective primary element, Electricity for Aki and Light for Ken, now. They still have their weaknesses, but that's not a major problem, we know to watch out for them by this point.

Oh, and Mjolnir? FUCKING METAL. Rather then dealing normal damage, it'll zap the hell out of whatever I hit with it, and it boosts the power of my own Zio skills by a fair amount. I'd wager that sword I made out of Surt will boost Junpei's fire skills and set stuff he stabs with it on fire. However, Mjolnir wasn't much help against the first Tartarus Guardians we found, a bunch of bastards Fuuka called Hell Knights. They absorbed electricity, so Ken and Aki had to stick to physicals(though Ken's Gae Bolg counts as wind, so there's that) and I couldn't smash their heads in. I did, however, manage to pull off something completely HILARIOUS.

One of the most unused bunches of skills my Personae can learn are Ailment skills that cause poison and the like. However, on a whim, I opted to use this multi-target skill to inflict Charm, the ailment that turned most of SEES against me and Shinjiro back in July, on them and it worked. On all three. So we got to help them beat the ever loving shit out of each other and it was great. I had the team go back down at that point because I wanted to register my 'sonas and maybe fuse a few new ones.

When I got there, I found out Surt is almost to the point that he'll hand over that item of his, as is Thor, so I registered them both quickly. Depending on what I get, I may pull them back out of the compendium to get more. I also got my hands on a powerful Sun Arcana persona called Jatayu, who has a skill that lets it grow in power even when I'm not actively using it in battle. I also somehow managed to have the one I made be holding an item in it as well, so I'm clearly doing SOMETHING right with these things.

For the trip back up, I took Junpei, Yukari, Mitsuru, and Koromaru to keep things fair, plus Hamuko was a bit worn from her first Tartarus trip. First up on the item getting bonanza once we got a few floors past the one we killed the Hell Knights on was Surt. He coughed up a small amulet on a chain containing what looked like frozen flames in it. When I turned it over in my hands, it looked as if the fire was actually burning. I could also sense that it was capable of nullifying fire attacks aimed at whoever was wearing it, so I tossed it to Mitsuru to cover her weakness.

Next item was from Thor, and it was a sort of dull gold-colored belt. This thing nullifies electricity, so I stashed it for Aigis for when we headed back down later. Little while later, Jatayu spat out his item, which was a dark green ring that nullifies wind attacks, so I gave it to Junpei right away. Thankfully we got an access point right after that, so I headed to the Velvet Room and fused away Thor and Jatayu before pulling them back out of the compendium for more of their item thingies. Even better was Fuuka informing me that it's possible to go through the entrance at the top of the stairs to get back to the floor we left via Access Point, so we went back up and I managed to get the ring and belt again by the time we got to the next guardian. I went back down and tossed Hamuko the ring to plug her weakness, then gave Aigis and Yukari each one of the belts to plug theirs.

"How did you get these, Roy-kun?" Hamuko asked as she admired the emerald green band on her finger.

"Personae." I stated. "Apparently they can be carrying special items within them when I get them, and if I keep 'em around long enough they'll hand 'em over." I stretched my arms over my head slightly. "If I manage to get ones to cover anybody else's weaknesses before we finish off that last Shadow, I'll let you guys know, but for now, we're gonna go kill that guardian then go home." I clapped my hands together. "Who wants to come along?"

"I will accompany you." Aigis replied instantly, the Thunder Belt adjusted snuggly around her waist.

"That's one." I said, then looked at the others. "Anyone else?"

"I'll come." Ken said, his spear resting behind his neck as he draped his arms over it. He looked over at Mitsuru. "Why don't you come with us, Senpai?"

Mitsuru actually chuckled a little. "Very well."

"I'll come too!" Yukari chimed in.

"Alright then." I picked up Mjolnir and rested it on my shoulder again. "Let's go wreck this thing." I headed over to the Teleporter with the four of them and beamed up to the highest floor.

"Fuuka, what can you tell us about this Guardian?"

_{One moment, please.}_ She replied as we approached it. _{Piercing attacks won't work, and fire will heal it. Darkness and Light won't work either.}_

"Thank you." I said. "Yukari, stick to magic. Aigis, keep the kaja support up and throw a few Persona physicals at it when you can. Ken, lightning and Gae Bolg only. Mitsuru, do what you usually do and throw ice spears at it till it dies please."

"Alright." "Understood." "Sure thing!" "Very well."

And now I'm getting a good look at this Shadow and FUCK it's one of those evil Hulk Hogan Shadows. I honestly thought we were done with these things, BUT NO. This guy's here and is basicly Big Daddy Gigas of the rest of the ones in the tower. This one's got white skin, red tattoo markings and hair, and black tights and boots. Welp, I get to crush his skull with an awesome hammer now so IT'S ALL GOOD.

* * *

"YOU GO SQUISH NOW!" **WHAM** Yay it's dead now. Damn bastard and his stupid area of doom attack thingie.

I sighed as I stood upright and staggered over to the teleporter.

"You okay, Roy-san?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine Ken…" I told him. "Let's just go home and get some rest…"

And we did.

* * *

Next morning I went to the shrine to hang out with Akinari.

"Hey, how do you feel about a pink alligator?"

I looked at him in confusion. "…Say wha?"

He laughed a little. "Oh, sorry… I was just… thinking about something. See, it's the main character of a story that I'm writing. He was born in the calm forest of green, but he turned out to be pink. He's so visible that he can't hunt for food easily, so he's always especially hungry. The other animals dislike him and consider his coloration disgusting… Almost like he's cursed." Akinari shifted in his seat slightly. "So, he started living alone… but then he made a friend. His friend was a bird- but, a bird that was unable to fly. So the bird would stand on the pink alligator's back and practice its flying." He rubbed his neck a little. "…It's embarrassing to talk about. But, anyway, how does the story sound to you?"

"Very interesting." I told him.

Akinari blinked in surprise. "Really? I've never tried writing a story before, and I'm kind of afraid it's going to suck. But, I'm writing it for myself, so that's what matters." He smiled. "Maybe I'll be able to show you the entire novel someday." He looked up at the sky. "I started thinking about t the other day, actually. I wanted to write an upbeat story of my own to cheer me up. Maybe if I can find some meaning to life, I can put that in my story."

I smiled. He's not letting it get him down anymore.

"When I write…" Akinari looked in my direction. "I can see you in my mind. It seems as if you're telling me not to die just yet…"

My grin widened. "Sure as hell sounds like me."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

"It does, doesn't it?" Akinari asked, looking at me. He looked away a moment later. "The wind is going to start blowing soon. I can feel these kinds of things now." He frowned slightly. "I hope I have enough time…" He slowly stood up. "Let's go home. We can talk again some other time."

I stood as well. "Alright. I'll see you again, Akinari."

He smiled. "As will I."

* * *

Nothing much went on back at the dorm, or at school the next day. Took Koromaru for a walk late in the afternoon, though.

"Nice night, innit?" I asked him as we approached the shrine.

He barked happily in agreement. Once we started up the steps though, he stopped and began growling.

"What's wrong?"

"I heard this place's totally haunted." I heard someone say from up near the shrine. "C'mon, let's go in."

"No way, I'm scared!" said someone else. Sounds like a woman. "You're up to something funny, aren't you?"

"Dammit, it's locked…" griped the guy. "Guess we'll have to break down the door."

Koro didn't take kindly to that and darted up the steps, barking angrily. I followed suit a moment later.

"Gah, what's with this dog?" complained a sorta tan-lookin' guy as his girlfriend(I suppose) hid behind him while Koromaru growled at them. "Where's the cops and the pound? It's their job to kill off stray dogs!"

"OI." I snapped as I approached. "He's not a stray, and just what the hell do you thing you were doing?"

"Huh?" The guy looked at me, then glared. "Stay outta this, ya brat!"

"Oh, I'm a brat am I?" I asked, cracking my knuckles. "Well, you're a fucking criminal trying to break into a shrine for shits and giggles." My lips curled into a sinister grin as I started walking closer. "That does not give you the moral high ground."

The guy deflated quickly once he finally noticed I'm taller then he is. Channeling Evil Smile probably helped with that as well.

"Uh…" he panicked, then grabbed his lady friend by the wrist. "L-Let's get out of here!"

"Y-Yeah!" she agreed as the two of them quickly ran off.

Koromaru was still growling at them as they left.

"It's alright, little buddy." I said to him. "They're gone."

Koro looked up at me and barked, his tail wagging happily._ (Thank you.)_

I smiled, then kneeled down and patted Koro on the head a few times. "Anytime, Koromaru."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

I stood up and stretched slightly. Koro moved towards the stairs and barked.

"Wanna walk for a little while longer?" I asked. He barked again. "Erright, let's go."

* * *

So we walked around some more then headed back to the dorm. Next day exam results were up and, once again, I got the top score in the class. Fuuka's score was a bit lower this time, and Aigis didn't do as good as I figured. Junpei was just below her, though. Hamuko had the fifth highest in class, which was surprising.

Everybody was talking about exams back at the dorm that evening. Shade's still being oddly quiet, which is starting to make me nervous.

The next day, me, Yukari, Junpei, Aigis and Hamuko all wanted to have lunch with Fuuka, but we had a hard time finding her. Then we saw Natsuki coming down the stairs.

"Excuse me, Natsuki-san?" Hamuko asked, getting the tan girl's attention. "Have you seen Fuuka-chan?"

"Fuuka?" Natsuki blinked. "Yeah, I was just talking to her up on the roof. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." Hamuko replied. "We just wanted to hang out with her while we had lunch."

"Oh, okay." said Natsuki. "See ya."

* * *

"There you are." Yukari griped as we got up to the roof, finding Fuuka just standing there. She looked at us in confusion.

"…Did something happen?" She asked.

"Nah, nothin' happened." Junpei told her. "We just wanted to have lunch with ya."

"It is surprising to find you on the rooftop." noted Aigis. "Is there something bothering you?"

Fuuka smiled and shook her head. "No, everything's okay now." She turned completely to face us. "I've made up my mind. I'll do as much as I can with my power." Fire burned in her eyes. "For my sake, as well as the sake of others."

Hamuko blinked in confusion. "Um, Fuuka-chan, what're you talking about?"

Fuuka giggled. "Sorry. I guess that was sort of random, wasn't it?"

"Uh, are you sure you're alright?" Junpei asked warily.

She nodded. "Mmhm. Totally fine."

"So…" I began with a smile. "Lucia gave rise to Juno, huh?"

Fuuka just smiled right back, while the others seemed surprised.

* * *

Nothing much else happened the rest of the day, but as I was changing out of my school shoes at the lockers, I felt someone tug on my sleeve a little. I looked over and Fuuka was standing there with a near death grip on it.

"Roy-kun…" she began. "Can I talk with you…?"

I blinked. "Uh, sure. What about?"

She shook her head. "Not here. It's important."

Eyebrow. "Okay, where then?"

"Follow me." Fuuka started past me while still holding onto my sleeve, thus forcing me to follow her rather awkwardly.

* * *

I got a lot of funny looks from people as Fuuka led me through the school and up to the roof before she finally let go of me.

"Okay, Fuuka, what's going on?" I asked. "Is something bothering you?"

"Roy-kun…" She began, facing away from me. "How've you been holding up?"

Eyebrow. "Huh?"

"How've you been handling what happened?" She asked, turning around to look at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her.

"Roy-kun…" Whoa, she sounds annoyed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay!" I replied. "What's the matter?"

"I don't believe you." Fuuka said firmly. "Akihiko-senpai, Ken-kun, and Hamuko-chan came to terms with what happened the quickest, while the rest of us were sort of conflicted." She started glaring at me. "Except you."

I blinked. "…Huh?"

"You haven't thought about it all that much, have you?" She said to me. "It's like you're just ignoring it!"

What in the hell…? "I haven't been ignoring it!"

"Roy-kun…" Oh damn now she sounds angry. "Stop lying to me."

What the fuck is going on? Why's she getting mad at me? "I'm not lying to you!"

"Yes, you are." Oh lord that's a doom glare aimed at my face. "Stop it."

Holy shit, this is seriously freaking me out now, what the hell is up with her today? "But I-!"

"Roy-kun!" Fuuka snapped. "Stop lying to me! Stop it now!"

Oh my god how in the hell is she doing that?

_'Yo what's up?'_

"GAH!" I flinched suddenly and shot backwards slightly, damn near falling over. "Shade?"

_'That's me.'_

Where the hell have you been the last two weeks?

"He's been talking to me."

I looked at Fuuka. "He what?"

"Shade has been talking to me." She repeated. "He was concerned about how you were taking what happened to Shinjiro-senpai."

I blinked. Shade?

_'Ever heard the phrase, 'Tuck in your head, shut off your mind. Let all your thoughts get redefined. Just keep yourself and disconnect. To where you been and have again.' ?'_

...Had to have heard it somewhere, otherwise, you wouldn't know it...

_'Well it's exactly what you're doing. You're cutting yourself off emotionally to keep yourself from getting phased by what happened.'_

"And you shouldn't do that." Fuuka added. "You can't just numb yourself to your feelings. It isn't right, Roy-kun."

I winced. They're right.

I try not to think about it, but… Shade and Fuuka are right… Damn it…

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

Stupid link… Sigh. I walked over and leaned back against the roof fence thing and rubbed the bridge of my nose lightly.

"Are you okay, Roy-kun?"

I looked at Fuuka. "Not really, but I'll get there."

She smiled. "Okay." She turned away and looked back over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go back."

"Alright." I replied, standing up as she started towards the door. "And Fuuka?" She stopped and looked back at me. I smiled. "Thanks."

Fuuka smiled again. "You're welcome, Roy-kun."

* * *

Author Notes - And there goes another chapter. The Tower Link pesters Roy again, and Fuuka is surprisingly bold. Plus Roy starts getting Heart Items from his Personae and Hamuko has her first romp through Tartarus. Yeah, she's a broken Party Member. She has the Auto-Ma-Kaja skills on top of Icey Doom and Physical stabby death. Just wait till the Bridge Battle with Strega comes up. Awesome shall happen. :D


	37. Handling Aces

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - 10, 12, about the damn same and Roy doesn't know anyways so whatever!

**Overlord Duelist **- Roy will not be doing Ryoji's social link. He's also never met the old Monk due to the change in the Tower Social link. As it stands, the only Social Links Roy has yet to start are Empress(Mitsuru), Judgement, and Aeon(Yay Aigis!). I may yoink at least ONE scene from Ryoji's link, though. Probably the Rank 1 scene because it's hilarious. As for Roy's Ultimate Persona, you'll find out. Messiah and Telos WILL appear in the story, but I can't say more without spoiling stuff. Mwehehehehe.

**Imbecile 862** - The Strega Bridge Battle will be interesting. As will the Arcana Hanged Man fight. And just wait till you see what goes down with Ikutsuki's betrayal.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

So after all that, I headed back to the dorm with Fuuka. The TV was on when we got there.

_["Casinos are a popular vacation spot nowadays, but…"]_ began the newscaster _["For the real casino experience, you have to go to Las Vegas in the USA! We'll now hear from our foreign correspondent on the Strip."]_

The image on the screen changed to show some guy standing in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. _["Hi, and welcome to Las Vegas, gambling capital of the world!"]_

"I've been there." I said, plopping down on the sofa next to Aigis.

Yukari gave me a look. "Been where?"

"Las Vegas." I pointed at the TV screen. "I've been there."

That got surprised looks from everyone, minus Aigis.

"Really?" asked Ken.

"Oh yeah." I replied. "It was on my fourteenth birthday. My Uncle took me there and got me a fake ID so I could go into the casinos. Had a great time."

"That why you learned how to do that card stuff?"

I shook my head at Junpei's question. "Nah, the card stuff came before Vegas, otherwise I'd have never gotten banned from three casinos there."

Another collective look of surprise, even from Aigis this time.

"You wanna hear about why I know so many card tricks?" I asked. I got a few nods from the others. "Alright. It was back when I was about eight years old. Went to a small, local casino where a few old buddies of uncle Shane worked. They didn't mind me hanging around the poker tables and such because I wasn't causing a fuss or anything. I was watching this one guy dealing cards and my uncle leaned over and told me to watch closely because he cheats." I leaned back in my seat a little. "Seeing as I was a little kid at the time, I walked up to the dealer and got his attention and asked him if he cheated. He just laughed a little and asked who I thought would win the next hand, gesturing at the people at the table. I pointed at one guy who seemed kinda tense, then stepped back while the cards were dealt." I smiled. "Can you guess who won?"

"The guy you picked?"

"Yep." I replied. "To top it all off? The guy was ecstatic because he'd been on a losing streak all night." I produced a deck of cards from my jacket and began shuffling them. "I asked the dealer if he did that because I picked that guy. He just smiled at me and ruffled my hair. Rest of the time I was there, I watched him deal and mentally picked who would win just by watching the way he dealt the cards. I kept getting wrong till I noticed a pattern in who was winning." I stopped shuffling. "The winners would go in an order of who was sitting in certain spots in a way that looks random, but is actually repeating rather regularly if you paid close enough attention." I shifted in my seat slightly. "I learned how to do that." I started dealing out cards facedown onto the table in the middle to near where everyone was sitting. "Now, if this was the final hand of a real game of Blackjack, Junpei would win." I gestured to the cards. "Flip 'em over if you don't believe me."

Everyone moved to flip the two cards I'd dealt them all. Fuuka had a Queen and Eight of Hearts. Yukari a Two of Spades and a Queen of Clubs. Akihiko got two Kings, Spades and Diamonds. Ken's hand was a Jack and Three of Diamonds. Hamuko had the Queen of Spades and Two of Hearts. Mitsuru had the Queen of Diamonds and Seven of Spades. The ones Koromaru had been dealt(that Aigis flipped over for him) were the Jack and Ten of Clubs. Aigis got the Jack and Ace of Hearts. Junpei's hand was the Jack and Ace of Spades.

"For those of you not in the know…" I explained as they eyed the cards in slight confusion. "Getting a Jack and an Ace in Blackjack basicly guaranties you win. Now, because Junpei's were of Spades, which is the highest ranking suit, he wins." I leaned back again as their expressions changed to surprise. "Basicly, a good dealer can decide the entire outcome of the match."

"If that is the case…" began Mitsuru as I gathered up the cards. "How can anyone have a fair game of cards?"

I shrugged. "Electronic Card Games and the like."

We all paused for a moment at that, then slowly looked at Aigis.

I looked back at the others and held up the deck of cards. "Anyone wanna play a game?"

"Only if Aigis deals."

Sigh. "I knew someone would say that…"

* * *

"Read 'em and weep, baby!" Junpei proclaimed, setting down a pair of kings. "Beat that!"

"Damn it!" I griped. "All I got is this…" I set down the Jack and Ace of Diamonds. I just grinned as Junpei started silently flipping out in his head. "I'll be taking these…" I raked the pile of Tartarus Gems we've been using as poker chips over to myself.

"How do you do that!" Junpei demanded angrily, pointing at me as Aigis took the cards and began shuffling.

Eyebrow. "Do what?"

"That thing with your face!" He exclaimed. "How do you do that?"

I chuckled. "Years of practice, my friend." I took the cards Aigis dealt me. Two of Hearts and King of Spades. "So, where was I at before I beat Junpei?"

"You just finished talking about the time your Uncle managed to get stuck in a clothes dryer for three hours." Yukari told me, carefully examining her own cards.

"Oh yeah, that's right." I smiled, tossing a couple of gems into the pot. "What other ludicrous stories do I have to tell… OH YEAH! I blew up the Chemistry Lab in Junior High once."

"How'd you manage that?" Aki asked with a dumbfounded expression as he discarded a card and got another from Aigis.

"Weapons grade plutonium." I said, discarding my Two of Hearts for a new card. Ace of Spades. I'm beginning to suspect Aigis might be cheating to let me win.

"Okay, now you're just messing with us, Roy-kun." Hamuko said pointedly.

"Only partly." I shrugged, tossing more gems into the pot. "The plutonium? Not true. The weapons grade? Very true."

"You actually got ahold of explosives?" Ken asked incredulously.

I laughed. "No, improvised. Of course it was probably a bad idea to see what'd happen if I brought some black powder to school and mixed it into a beaker with three different chemicals I still don't know the names of."

"How'd you survive the explosion?"

I laughed again. "It wasn't a very big one, but there was a lot of smoke and dust blown everywhere so the joke became that I blew up the lab." I sighed nostalgically. "Ah, good times…"

"I take it you were suspended for that?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah. The Principal was a hilariously weird guy, though, and didn't want to because he thought it was awesome but the teachers weren't gonna let him hear the end of it if I got off scott free." I smirked. "So, let's be seein' what you people got!"

* * *

Twenty minutes and a couple dozen more rounds of poker later, we all went to bed. After they made me promise to never let Aigis deal cards ever again, anyways.

Next morning I caught up to Fuuka shortly before we got to the school gate.

"Good morning!" She greeted with a small smile. "…Well, we're almost done. It feels like it went so fast… SO many things happened, but…" Her smile widened. "I'm glad I was able to become friends with everyone. What about you?"

I smiled as well. "I'm glad I met you, Fuuka."

"Huh?" She blinked in surprise and blushed a little. "Oh, um, thank you very much… I didn't mean it like that, but…" She smiled again. "Thank you."

I laughed a little, then sighed contently. "Hey, you gonna stop by Art Club after school?"

"I was planning on it, why?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering 'cause I was gonna stop by myself."

* * *

And stop by I did. Keisuke pestered me to meet him on the roof after club again, so I did.

"So what's on your mind, Keisuke?" I asked him.

"Well…" he began slowly. "Don't tell anyone this, but…" He sighed heavily. "I'm still deciding about whether or not I want to study abroad."

Eyebrow. "Why?"

"My dad's trying to make all my decisions for me." He said. "He chose the school I'd go to, the dorm I'd live in… even the flight I'd take! I haven't had a say in anything…" He sighed again. "He's been acting all weird since I had that talk with him about quitting the club… It's like he thinks he understands me now."

'Dude, I don't even think you understand yourself.'

Quiet, you. "So, are you gonna be a doctor then?"

Keisuke blinked. "A doctor…?" His expression turned thoughtful. "Hmm…"

Something I've noticed about Keisuke? He's always freaking smiling. It's weird. Really weird.

"But, if I study abroad, then there's no turning back, right?" He asked me. "I mean, I couldn't be a doctor then, could I?"

I winced. "Not really, I suppose."

"My teachers, my friends, and especially you- everyone's been so supportive…" Keisuke looked out at the city. "I know what you must be thinking… a chance to study abroad- what an opportunity…"

I laughed. "I'll say. I mean, I'm doing that and it's only for my high school education."

"Oh yeah, you are, huh?" Keisuke laughed a little as well, then sighed. "Sorry, Roy-kun. It seems like all I ever do is complain to you, but I always feel a lot better after talking to you, so thanks."

"No problem."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

Keisuke sighed again. "Now I don't know what I really want to do… In times like this, I must put my faith in the heavens…" His eyes lit up slightly. "You can go on without me. I have to go to the book store."

"What for?"

"I'm going to buy a fortune telling book and stay up all night until I finish reading it!"

"Really?" I asked. "Well hey, I know a good place to start looking, so why don't I come with you?"

Keisuke's perpetual smile seemed to falter a little. "You don't mind?"

I shook my head. "Nah, it's cool. C'mon, let's get going."

* * *

"Hello, and welcome to- Roy-chan!"

"Heya Bunkichi-san." I greeted as me 'n Keisuke walked into the small store. "How've you been?"

"Good, good! It's nice to see you again!" Smiled the old man happily.

"Roy-kun, you know him?"

"Yeah." I replied, turning to look back at Keisuke. "I used to hang out around here a lot, but haven't been by very much recently."

"Roy-chan here saved the persimmon tree at your school!" Bunkichi boasted.

I laughed a little. "All I did was suggest moving it instead of cutting it down." I shook my head. "But anyways, we're here looking for a fortune telling book. Got any?"

"Fortune telling?" The old man stroked his beard. "I think we have a few of those. Just a moment, I'll get them for you."

"Thank you, sir!" Keisuke said, bowing. Bunkichi just laughed.

"No need to be so stiff, young man." He said. "A friend of Roy-chan's is a friend of mine!" He scooted over to a bookshelf and looked around before grabbing three books and coming back. "Here you are."

Keisuke carefully took the books and inspected them.

"Any of those work?" I asked him.

He nodded. "All of them, actually, but I like this one." He held up a book on Tarot. "I'll take it."

"Alright then." said Bunkichi. "That'll be two-hundred yen."

"Two-hundred?" Keisuke asked, slightly confused as he looked at the price tag on the book. "But it says five hundred on here…"

"Special discount." Smiled the old man as he gestured to me. "You can thank Roy-chan for that."

Keisuke just beamed slightly. "Thank you!" He quickly pulled out a few coins and handed them to Bunkichi, then bowed to me. "I'm gonna go home and start reading! See you around, Roy-kun!"

"Later Keisuke!" I called back as he darted out of the store, then I returned my attention to the old man behind the counter. "So what've you been up to lately?"

"Oh, you know. The usual." Bunkichi replied with a light chuckle. "What about you?"

I shrugged. "Busy with stuff. Sorry I haven't come by much."

He laughed again. "Ah, don't mind us. We'll be fine."

"Where's Mitsuko-san?"

"She's out at the store right now." He told me. "But really, you don't need to worry about us. We may be old, but we've still got a spring in our step!"

I laughed. Good ol' Bunkichi. "It's just how I am."

"Any reason you're sticking around?" He asked me. "Don't you have friends to hang out with?"

I shrugged again, looking away slightly. "That was why I came here with Keisuke."

"What about your girlfriend?"

My head snapped back to face him. "WHAT?"

"The young blonde girl I saw you with the other day." He said. "I saw you hugging her, you sly dog you."

"Wh-What!" Oh god I can feel myself blushing. "B-But that-!"

"Ah ah, no buts!" Bunkichi said, stepping around the counter and gently pushing me towards the door. "She's probably waiting for you to meet here right now, and it isn't polite to keep a lady waiting!" He kept pushing until I was all the way out of the store. "Go enjoy yourself, Roy-chan!"

"Wa-" The door shut behind me. "-it…" I sighed. I really wanted to spend some time chatting with the two of them.

_'Well hey, it's not all that bad, right? He thought Aigis was your girlfriend.'_

Heh, yeah, he did, huh? I can live with that, and son of a bitch Keisuke's gone now what the fuck do I do?

_'Go back to the dorm and play more Vesperia? Haven't touched that game in a while.'_

Eh, I suppose I can do that…

* * *

So I went back to the dorm and played more Vesperia. Hamuko was surprised to see me playing it and joined in on the battles along with Junpei. She took a hilarious liking to Judith and fun times were had as we added hilarious commentary to the scenes as we acted weird and such or joked about some of the silliness the game threw in our direction.

Next day after school I looked around to find Chihiro, and find her I did.

"Hey, Chihiro!" I called out as I walked up. She looked up at me in mild surprise.

"Oh, hello Roy-san…" She replied with a small smile. "Did you need something?"

"Not really." I said. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out today."

Her expression fell. "Oh, um, not really… I already have plans."

My own expression fell. "Oh… well, maybe some other time then?"

"Yeah." Chihiro bowed slightly. "I'll see you around, Roy-san."

"See ya…" I replied quietly as she walked away. I sighed. Maybe I'll go check out Tennis. They said they were cool with me just droppin' by for the hell of it.

_'Sounds like a plan.'_

Anything can sound like a plan.

* * *

"Yo, Kaz!"

"Hey, Roy!" he called back as I approached. "Stoppin' by for some practice?"

"Hell yeah." I told him. "Need somethin' simple to clear my head and this seemed like a good idea. Rio here today?"

He shook his head. "Nah, she said she had something to take care of 'n left about five minutes ago."

"Really? Well damn." I sighed. "Ah well, lemme go get changed and I'll come back 'n stomp your ass."

"Ha! Bring it on!"

* * *

"I still can't believe how you do that!" Kaz complained once I finished whooping him. "I mean seriously man, you're a monster out there!"

I shrugged. "Eh, just par for the course with me." I sat down on a bench. "Hey, you doing anything after practice?"

"Yeah, I was gonna go spend some time with my nephew." He told me. "Why?"

I winced slightly. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to hit the arcade or somethin', but if you've already got plans, it's cool…"

"Oh, okay. And I gotta get goin', so see ya later, Roy."

I sighed to myself as Kaz walked away. Damn it…

"Hey, Roy-kun?"

I looked up. "Hey Hamuko. What's up?"

"I heard you talking to Kaz." She smiled. "I'm not doing anything, so I can hang out with you if that's okay."

I blinked a couple times, then smiled as well. "Sure."

* * *

I haven't really spoken to Hamuko much the entire time I've known her, which actually kind of surprises me. So hey, while we're walkin' back to the dorm I may as well strike up a conversation.

"So, how're you adjusting to the whole Dark Hour and Persona thing?" I asked her.

"Well enough." She sighed. "I'm just glad it's going to be over soon."

"Yeah, you picked a hell of a time to join up." I laughed. "Just in time to stomp the last big bad into dirt, then celebrate our awesomeness." My expression turned serious. "And hey, Hamuko?"

She looked at me. "Yes?"

"This next operation is gonna be our last, and those Strega guys know it." I told her. "They'll probably try to stop us. I want you, Akihiko, and Ken to deal with Revolver Anti-Christ while the rest of us take on Sir Blow-Shit-Up-A-Lot."

Hamuko's expression darkened and she nodded. "I'll tear him apart."

"Or at the very least freeze him so hard whatever he has in place of a soul gets frostbite." I chuckled. "And then we can get a sledgehammer and smash his ass."

She laughed a little at that. "That's cruel. Funny, but cruel."

I shrugged with a smirk. "I just have a dark sense humor sometimes. You'll get used to it eventually."

Hamuko giggled, then went silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Roy-kun?"

"Mmhm?"

"Why do you keep saying 'When Shinjiro wakes up' whenever he comes up in conversations?" She asked. "I mean, the doctors…"

I sighed. "I know what they said. And I think they're full of shit. He's going to wake up, god damn it." I frowned. "I know it."

"You really think so?"

"Not think, know."

Hamuko smiled. "Thank you, Roy-kun. It makes me happy to hear that…"

I smiled back. "You're welcome."

I know it's a lie, though. Even if he did wake up, those damn fucking pills are going to kill him. But I'm not about to let her worry about that. She doesn't need the added stress. Just like how Junpei doesn't need to know about Chidori. And I swear to god Shade, if you tell Fuuka about this…

_'Chill out, I won't.'_

Cool. "So, hey, Hamuko, any place in particular you wanted to stop by before we headed back to the dorm?"

She put her index finger to her lips and scrunched her eyebrows together in thought for a moment before answering. "Hagakure. I'm a little hungry."

She blushed as her stomach let out a very unladylike growl at the mention of the restaurant.

I snickered. "Well, I think we can manage that. My treat."

* * *

One trip to Hagakure later, we headed back to the dorm and had a relaxing-ish evening of not worrying about a lot of stuff. Well sorta. I found Ken and Fuuka at the second Floor lounge with Koromaru.

"Hey guys." I said as I sat down at the table they were at. "What cha' talkin' about?"

"Hello Roy-san." Ken replied. "I was just asking Fuuka-san what she wants to do when the Dark Hour disappears."

"That's a good question." I nodded, crossing my arms before looking at Fuuka. "So what were you going to say before I interrupted?"

She blushed slightly. "Well, I don't exactly know what I'll do. I guess I'll try to sleep more. I don't get much sleep on nights we go to Tartarus."

Koromaru barked suddenly, causing our heads to turn towards him.

Fuuka smiled. "You either, Koro-chan?"

"But, you sleep all day, Koromaru…" Ken commented, giving the dog a moderately confused look. Koro just yawned in response.

I chuckled. "He just knows how to take it easy." I looked back at Ken. "What about you?"

"Me?" He blinked. "Well, I don't think I'll do anything special if the Dark Hour disappears. I'll be sure to tell my mother and Shinjiro-san about it, though." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… If it really does happen… I want to see what it's like to be an ordinary elementary school student."

"Didn't you technically have that before your mom passed away?" I asked.

Ken frowned for a second, then shrugged. "I kinda forgot. I've gotten so used to the Dark Hour, it's a little hard to remember."

"I don't blame you." I said. "I grew up with it. Wasn't too bad, though, because apparently the entire Shadow population is stuck here in Japan so I just had a random extra hour to my days." I sighed. "Still, it was lonely being the only person in the world for an hour."

Fuuka and Ken winced.

"Ah, don't worry, it's all in the past." I told them with a smile. "Besides, we're gonna end all that anyways! But for now…" I stood up. "Imma go to bed."

* * *

And I did. And I ended up getting roped into cleaning up the Art Club Room after club was over after school with Keisuke the next day.

"Jeez, how much of a mess can these guys make?" I griped as I dumped a bunch of junk into the trash can. "It's fuckin' ridiculous."

"Yeah…" Keisuke agreed. "This room is smaller then my bedroom, but it's still pretty big…"

I turned and looked at Keisuke like he just suddenly started speaking in gibberish. "What."

He rubbed his neck and panicked slightly. "H-Hey, let's take a break."

I shrugged and sat down on a chair. "Works for me. So, you decided what you're gonna do?"

Keisuke nodded. "Yeah. I've decided that I'm going to study painting abroad. I'm not really excited about it…" He rubbed his neck again. "But I already told Sensei that I don't want to become a doctor, so…"

"Hmm." I bobbed my head a little. "Makes sense."

…

Why is there an awkward silence in the air now?

"I-I'm going to get something to drink from the vending machine." He said suddenly. "You want anything? It's on me."

"Dr. Pepper. If not that, then Pepsi. If not that, then skip it, I'll get something on my way home."

"Okay." Keisuke got up and headed out of the room.

I stood up and went back to cleaning a bit. I picked up a couple boxes of paints and started to put them back on top of a cabinet that was slightly taller then I expected.

"Sorry, Roy-kun, they only had coffee."

My head snapped in the direction Keisuke's voice came from. "Huh?" I only barely managed to notice the second box to start sliding backwards towards me.

"H-Hey! Look out!"

**WHAM**

"FUCKING OW." I shouted before the impact of the first box caused me to pull back and drop the second one on my foot. "AUGH AGAIN WITH THE HURTING WHAT THE HELL!"

"Roy-kun! Are you okay?"

"DO I LOOK OKAY?" I griped as I hopped up and down on one foot a few times. "Stupid boxes…"

I'm thankful I'm still wearing my hat, which Elizabeth hit with some crazy Velvet Room Magic-Fu to make it as indestructible as the armored clothes stuff she hands out as a reward for one of her little requests. It's great because I really don't want to have to break in a new hat. I rather like this one. Unfortunately it still behaves like cloth despite being bullet proof so I'm probably going to have a bruise on my head.

I lo- WHOA Keisuke suddenly in my face an- "HANDS OFF THE HAT."

He blinked. "But-"

"HANDS." I began with a glare. "OFF. THE HAT."

Keisuke carefully let go of my hat.

"Thank you." I said, then I pulled my hat off myself. "I don't like people messing with it. Sorry."

He wasted no time in grabbing my head and pulling it down so he could get a better look at it.

"What's the diagnosis?" I asked.

"Well, I don't see any cuts on your head, so I don't think you need any stitches…" He let go and then held up three fingers as I stood back up and put my hat back on. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"On which hand?" I asked with a joking tone. "You've got five."

"Very funny." He jabbed back. "Seems you're okay. And, sorry…"

Eyebrow. "What for?"

"For distracting you while you were putting those up there." He said, rubbing his neck. He does that a lot.

"Ah, don't worry about it, man." I commented dismissively. "It's cool."

Keisuke laughed. "You're strong, Roy-kun." He winced. "Toriumi-sensei told me about what happened to your parents." I winced as well. "I can't even imagine that. My parents are always there for me." He sighed. "Maybe I take them for granted…"

"You know what dude?" I asked. "You seriously worry too much. Just take it easy. It's not like I got knocked out or something."

_'Honestly, who'd pass out from a box of art stuff hitting them?'_

Only an extreme wuss, that's who.

"Yeah, you're right…" He agreed with a laugh.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

"Urgh…" I grumbled and rubbed my head. "I'm gonna have a bruise in the morning knowing my luck…"

"Most likely." Keisuke commented. "Just take it easy and you'll be fine, okay?"

"Erright. Let's finish up so we can go home…"

* * *

After that I headed back to the dorm and found Koromaru seemingly waiting for me.

"Hey little buddy." I greeted, petting him a few times. "I take it you wanna go for a walk?"

He barked in affirmation. I smirked, then set my bag down next to the TV when Fuuka walked over.

"Koro-chan, how as today's…" She stopped and blinked a few times. "Huh? You didn't eat all of it…" Fuuka started to pout. "But it's good meat, with the bone still in…"

I looked over at Koro's food dish, and sure enough there's a chunk of meat on a bone sitting in it.

"You feelin' okay, Koro?" I asked him. He barked, then moved over and clamped his jaws around the meat and picked it up. His tail started wagging a little as he moved over to the door and looked back at me. I shrugged, then followed him outside. He still didn't want to eat that food though.

"You got a reason for this, I take it?"

Koro did a sort of nod.

"Ah, figured." I commented. "Where to, then? You lead the way."

Koromaru's ears perked up and his tail wagged faster, then he started off with me following in bemused silence.

* * *

We got to the shrine and right away Koromaru started looking around for something.

_'The hell was that?'_

The hell was what?

_'That sound.'_

What sound? You okay in there, Shade?

_'I'm fine you idiot. Wait, where's Koro going?'_

Eh?

I looked over and Koromaru was heading over to one of the benches. I followed him and he barked, dropping the meat he was carrying. A small black puppy came out from near the bench and began eating.

"Ah, this why you brought that snack along?"

Koromaru barked, then looked up at me.

I laughed. "You want me to help with him, huh?" Koro barked again. "Alright, let's see here…" I kneeled down to get a better look at the puppy. Looks like it's got a collar. Must be somebody's pet, but I don't see an ID tag on it so I can't just call the little fella's owner… Ah, maybe Kurosawa can help. It's still light out, so it can't take too long to get to the Mall, especially seeing as how the bridge ain't too far away.

* * *

I let the puppy finish eating before I carefully picked it up and started off to the mall. Lucky for us Kurosawa was right at the front counter.

"Evenin' officer." I said.

"Good evening." he replied. "Need supplies?"

I shook my head, then indicated the puppy in my arms. "Nah, I came to ask if anyone's reported a missing dog. I found this little guy at Naganaki Shrine and he's got a collar on him, but no ID tag."

He raised an eyebrow. "A lost dog?" He looked through some, presumably, recent paperwork. "No… there haven't been any reported…" He looked back at me. "You kids take on jobs like this as well?"

I laughed a shook my head. "Nah, this is just my good deed for the day. Think you can help me out with getting this puppy home?"

Kurosawa smirked, and expression I've honestly never seen him use before. "Heh, sure thing. Wait here."

* * *

Twenty minutes and a lot of phone calls later, Kurosawa managed to track down the puppies' owner.

"I'll hold onto this little fella till they come pick him up." He said as I carefully handed him the puppy. "It's going to get dark soon, so you probably should head on back."

"Heh, yeah." I agreed, then looked down at Koromaru. "C'mon Koro, let's get going."

"Good work out there, Koromaru." I said to him as we headed back to the dorm. "Good thing you found that little guy so we could get him home."

He barked in response, his tail wagging quickly.

_'Happy lil' guy, ain't he?'_

Eyup.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

"Alright, let's get on back. We're headin' to Tartarus tonight." I told Koromaru. "We could all use the exercise, right?"

Koromaru barked in agreement, then started scampering off ahead of me.

"Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

After Koromaru decided to race me back to the dorm(and win, the speedy little twerp) we geared up for Tartarus. Just to see how it'd work out, I've got the entire gang coming up with me this time. It's… interesting having so many people running around a floor of this place at once.

It's also increadably awesome to see the kinds of bizarre combinations of attacks everyone will pull off at random sometimes. Like Junpei launching an Agilao at the same shadow Yukari and Ken had decided to, respectively, throw a Garula and Zionga at. Firey Lightning Twister for the win.

"Hey, anyone seen Hamuko?" I asked as I pulled Mjolnir out of the crater I made with it when I crushed a Shadow's head.

"I'm right here!"

"Ah, co-" I stopped dead as I turned to look at her. She's wearing what looks like a one-piece silver swimsuit with armored bits on it with matching thigh-high boots, bicep-length gloves, and hair band.

"What's wrong, Roy-kun?" She asked, tilting her head innocently.

"What." I began slowly. "The hell. Are you wearing."

"Oh, this?" She struck a pose and smiled. "I found it in a gold box back there." She pointed over her shoulder. "Don't let the look fool you, it's really sturdy. I hardly have a scratch on me!"

_'We can see that.'_

Indeed.

"Yukari-chan, Mitsuru-senpai, I have sets for you as well!" She produced two more of said sets of 'armor' from a shoulder strap bag I didn't know she had with her, but probably has her normal clothes in it. "Here ya go!"

"Huh?" Both of them took a step back.

"N-No, Arisato, th-that's quite alri-" Mitsuru began before a soft thump drew our attention. Junpei was on the ground, unconscious. A small pool of blood was forming near his head.

I groaned loudly. "Damn it, Hamuko! You caused Junpei to have a perversion overload and pass out!"

"Oops…"

* * *

Once we got Hamuko to put her regular clothes on over her new 'armor' and we woke Junpei back up from his short-term coma(and got him to clean the blood off his face), we slaughtered our way up the rest of the block and came upon this sorta open-ish area with a bunch of pillars, a lone briefcase, and an access point. No stairs.

"Uh… where are we?" asked Junpei.

"I believe this is the top of Tartarus."

"Yeah, I think Aigis-san is right." Ken agreed. "This certainly does seem like the top."

I strolled over and picked up the case with, presumably, another document. Prolly gonna just go turn this in.

_{Be careful! I sense Death!}_

Wait, WHAT?

**'Greetings, Human.'**

Oh hell.

"What is that thing!" Ken and Hamuko asked in unison as Koro barked repeatedly.

I sighed and took a step back towards the others. "Ken, Hamuko, Koromaru, meet the Reaper. Master of Tartarus."

Koro settled into a faint growl, but I can tell he's nervous. Even he can tell Reaps is crazy powerful

**'Indeed.'** Said the Reaper. **'But I am not here for introductions.'** He held his arms out in a sweeping gesture. **'You have finally reached our arena. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take for you to get here.'**

Arena…? Wait, SHIT! "You mean you want to fight me… NOW?"

**'That is correct.'** The Reaper stated, floating back slightly. **'Are you prepared, human?'**

"Well…" I rubbed my neck a little. "No. I'm not. Perhaps we could postpone this to some other time?"

There was a tense silence in the air after I finished talking. Shit, I really hope he doesn't just kill me right here that would fucking suck.

**'Very well.'**

I blinked. "…huh?"

**'We will postpone our duel for now.' **He said. **'But only this once. The next time we meet, we shall battle.'**

I nodded. "I understand." I bowed slightly. "Good day."

I quickly turned and started towards the Access point. I stopped and turned back to look at everyone. "Well, c'mon! Let's go!"

* * *

I turned in the Old Document to Elizabeth before we left Tartarus. The walk was mostly silent till the Dark Hour ended as we got about halfway back to the dorm.

"Fortune, may I ask you something?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Mitsuru. "Shoot."

"Why did you avoid fighting the Reaper?" She asked. "The Full Moon Shadows we have encountered thus far have been powerful, and the most recent few were highly intelligent. Wouldn't it have been wise to gauge our strength against that Shadow?"

I sighed. "Mitsuru, you seem to be forgetting something. The Reaper wants to fight ME. Not SEES, me specifically." I turned and started walking backwards carefully. "Now, as it stands, there would've only been two possible outcomes from a fight between myself and the Reaper right now. The first is that I would have beaten the Reaper, which would basicly mean I could crush the final Shadow with both my arms tied behind my back."

"And the other…?"

I looked at Akihiko. "You're probably fucking doomed because the Reaper turned me into a smoldering crater."

The others looked at each other nervously.

"BUT." I began again. "Think about our last Operation with the Fortune and Strength Shadows. It only took myself and Aigis to beat them. Specifically, I beat Fortune by myself and assisted Aigis in finishing off Strength." I turned back around so I was looking where I was going. "Now, as near as I could tell, you guys were all at about the same ability level as her prior to that battle, so any one of you could've been in her place and it'd still have only required two of us to defeat those Shadows. By that logic, I'd say we're more then capable of handling the final Shadow without needing to visit Tartarus again."

"You really think so?" Yukari asked nervously.

I nodded. "Definitely. Besides, it's what, nine of us versus one big Shadow? We'll wipe the floor with it."

"You sound confident." Mitsuru noted.

I just shrugged. "We're almost in the clear, so I'd think having a bit of confidence would be perfectly fine."

"Yeah, Roy's right!" Junpei chimed in. "We're undefeated! We got this in the bag!"

I smiled to myself. "Damn straight we do."

* * *

The mood was good because I've officially put an end to Tartarus runs, mainly because the Reaper is probably going to be fucking WAITING for me in the lobby and say 'Bitch it's go time' when I walk in, so it's best to be cautious.

It's Friday now, so I decided to help out at Student Council. There honestly wasn't much going on, and after everything with Hidetoshi's case blew over they all apparently didn't expect me to drop by that much anymore, if at all.

"Thanks for the help today, Roy-kun." Hidetoshi said after Council was over. Chihiro already left, though. "Made things a go a lot smoother."

I smiled. "You're welcome. Hey, you got some free time later?"

He sighed and shook his head. "No, I have something important to take care of for the Disciplinary Committee today. Sorry."

I hid a wince. "It's fine. I'll just go do something else, it's cool."

* * *

I couldn't find Chihiro, Kaz, or Rio anywhere at school, so I just headed off and ended up flopping down on a bench near Port Island Station out of lack of anything to really do. Kinda don't want to head back to the dorm yet.

"Hey, this seat taken?"

I glanced in the direction of the voice, then shook my head. "Nah, sit if ya want."

"Thanks." came the reply as someone sat down next to me. "You okay?"

"Been better. Mostly bored." I said.

"Hmm. I know the felling." replied the guy. "Somethin' ya really wanna do, but ya dunno what?"

"Nah, I wanted to hang out with a few specific friends lately but they've been busy."

"They say they'd hang out with you some other time?"

"Yeah…"

"So why get bummed out?" He asked. "Besides, at least you have friends."

Before I could say something, the guy's cellphone went off.

_-I face out~, I hold out~, I reach out to the truth~-_

"Hello?" he said into the device, cutting off the catchy ringtone. "Oh, hey… No, I'm near Port Island Station right now… Uh huh… Okay, see you there then. Bye." He sighed and snapped his phone shut. "Sorry pal, I gotta get going. See ya."

"Erright, later days, dude." I said, finally turning to look at the guy as he walked away. Grey hair, kinda tall-ish. Seems mellow. Fool Arcana.

_'And his Persona is badass, innit?'_

Fuck yeah it is! Just look at him! Badass longcoat and a ten foot naginata? Fuckin' metal. Wait, how can I see what his Persona looks like?

_'Wild Card bullshit.'_

Of course Wild Card bullshit. You think that's the dude who's gonna handle shit in Inaba?

_'Probably. And is it just me, or does his Persona seem… I dunno, different from everyone in SEES?'_

Nah, I see what you mean. Could be he's not Dark Hour sensitive. Gotta wonder how he has a persona then.

_'Who knows? No point wondering about it now, right?'_

Yeah, true. Let's get going. I wanna sketch that Izanagi persona now.

* * *

So I spent that night sketching that dude's Persona for the hell of it and it's AWESOME. Nothing went on at all the next day. Kaz, Rio, Chihiro, and Hidetoshi were hard to track down, and if I did they scurried off quickly for some reason or another, so I just sketched for most of the day just to get my mind off things.

Went up to see Akinari at the shrine the next day. Talkin' to him always kinda puts me in a good-ish mood, if only because it's nice to see him refusing to let his illness bring down his spirits, even as it destroys his body.

"So how's your story coming along?" I asked him. "Got things goin' okay?"

He nodded. "Yes. I'm still writing more of it." He looked at me quizzically. "How much did I tell you about?"

I thought for a sec. "You left off just after the pink alligator and the bird became pals."

"Ah, yes." Akinari's face lit up a little. "The bird was the alligator's first friend, and he was very happy. They started going to the river every day, and the little bird would sing while the alligator listened." He sighed. "But again, the alligator couldn't catch any food easily because of his color… Pink is such an odd color, his prey in the jungle saw him from far away and had plenty of time to escape." Akinari turned his head away from me. "He became so hungry that he was dizzy most of the time… and he accidentally ate the bird one afternoon as it slept in his mouth. Of course he realized his mistake immediately, and drank swamp water to induce vomiting…"

I winced. "But the bird was dead by the time he coughed him up?"

He nodded sadly. "After that, he couldn't bring himself to eat anything…" He paused, then looked at me. "That's as far as I've written. I haven't decided on an ending."

"Sounds like a good story." I said. "A bit dark, honestly, but you're sort of writing what you know, right?"

Akinari smiled and nodded. "Indeed. The words I use come from my life. And I'm glad you like it, just based on what little I've told you about it. I always thought the only thing I could give other people was hopelessness, but maybe…" He shook his head slightly. "So, before, I mentioned I was writing a diary…" he sighed again. "That was a lie. I was writing my will." His expression turned bitter. "I couldn't face realty, and I was essentially screaming curses into my notebook." He smiled again. "But for now, I'm writing a story in the same notebook. It probably isn't very good, but it contains some things I've leaned during my shoulder life."

"I dunno, it might be better then you're giving yourself credit for." I told him. "And hey, you think I can read it when you're done?"

He nodded. "Of course you can. I mean, meeting you is the main reason I started writing it."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

I smiled. "Well hey, don't stress yourself trying to come up with an ending. Just give it careful thought, alright?"

Akinari nodded. "I will." He frowned slightly. "But I don't have much time to spare." He shook his head quickly, as if to dismiss that train of thought. "Well, thanks. I hope we can chat some more later."

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

It was still early on in the day after I parted ways with Akinari, so I headed back to the dorm to see what everyone was up to.

"Yo, I'm back!" I called out as I opened the door. I heard a panicked yelp, then the TV Channel changed over to the news. I looked at the couch and Ken was trying to act non-chalant while sorta lazily watching TV. I narrowed my eyes. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" he asked, trying to seem innocent.

"You changed the TV channel the moment I walked in. What for?"

His face reddened a little. "I-It's nothing…"

"So what villain was Hawk beating the tar out of this time?"

"That evil twin of him that Doctor Psychosis made about five episodes ago." He replied casually, then he clamped his hand over his mouth, seeming embarrassed.

I laughed. "Geez Ken, chill out. Just change the channel back and it's all good." I sat down on the sofa next to him. "Or did you forget that I like Featherman?"

Ken looked at me and blinked, then smiled and changed the channel back to the awesome that is Featherman R.

_'Nerd.'_

And you're me.

_'…DAMN IT.'_

Haha, owned! Now shaddup 'n lets watch Hawk punch dudes through walls.

* * *

"THAT. Was awesome!" I commented loudly once the end credits started playing. "I mean, as far as evil twin plotlines go, that was really well executed!"

"I know what you mean." Ken agreed. "Most of the time it's just a standard 'same person, but evil' sort of thing, but Dark Hawk was surprisingly well developed and unique."

"Yeah." I nodded knowingly. "Kudos to the writer who came up with that." I sighed and leaned back in my seat. "So how've you been?"

"I've been okay." He replied.

"You talk to Hamuko about what went down between you and Shinjiro?"

Ken nodded. "Yeah. I asked her if she hated me because of what I did."

"What'd she say?"

"She said it didn't matter." He told me. "Because Shinjiro-san's still alive."

I smiled. "That's good. And besides, Ken… what he did was tearing him up inside."

He looked at me in confusion.

"I spoke with him back in June shortly before Fuuka joined the team. He was refusing to fight because he knew he couldn't be punished for killing your mother." I stated. "I countered by telling him a few things."

Ken's expression turned curious. "What kind of things?"

"Mainly what I know." I said. "Like beating yourself up over the past won't change it, and that you should take what you learned from that and work as hard as you can to prevent it from happening again." I winced. "And what happened to my mom."

"I see…" He looked downward slightly. There was a short pause before he spoke up again. "What was she like?"

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What was who like?"

"Your mother."

I blinked, then chuckled to myself and smiled wryly. "I don't remember a lot, but she was really nice. Hardly ever had to raise voice at me, but I wasn't much of a trouble maker." I laughed aloud slightly. "She gave my dad a hard time because he was a bit of a goofball, though. I remember one time she actually chased him around with a frying pan." I smiled nostalgically. "I grabbed a toy sword and started joined in. Dad thought it was hilarious even after mom caught him and smacked him with the pan."

Ken smiled. "Your parents sound like they were great people."

I nodded. "They were. I don't remember much about them, but… What I do remember is the good times. When we'd eat dinner together, when dad would take me to get a new toy or just play with me when he wasn't working…" I sighed contently. "It was nice."

"Yeah… I know what you mean." Ken leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "I remember a lot about my mom. Mostly her cooking. She made the best omelet and fried rice I've ever tasted."

I chuckled again. "Moms always make the best food, right?"

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

The two of us just sat their silently for a little while. Then I felt like asking a question that's been bugging me for a while.

"Hey, Ken?"

"What is it, Roy-san?"

"Why do you always wear shorts?" I asked. "I mean, don't you get cold?"

"A little…" He sighed. "I don't even like shorts all that much, but for some reason it's all I've got."

I looked at him. "I will not stand for that." I stood up and struck a post like Hawk from Featherman. "Come Zodiac Eagle, we must go to Paulownia Mall and defeat the evil Shorts Monster!"

Ken sprang to his feet with a salute. "Roger that, Crimson Hawk!"

_'You're both nerds.'_

Quiet, you.

* * *

So we headed to the mall and got Ken some actual pants to wear. I honestly don't get how he doesn't have any pairs of jeans or something. It's messed up, man! We also got some Featherman stuff because, as we've established, Featherman is awesome. Even toy replicas of their epic Feather Changer morpher things they use.

Sure, we got weird looks for coming back to the dorm with bags full of toys and pants and wearing Feather Changers on our wrists, but we didn't care. Totally worth it.

Next day I had no luck finding anybody, but Akihiko wanted to talk about something, so we headed to Hagakure.

"Why here?" I asked him. "Kind of a bad place to have a serious conversation, methinks…"

"Yeah, you're right…" He agreed.

"So what'd you want to talk about?"

"Well…" began Aki. "I wanted to give you this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of fingerless leather gloves. "Seeing as we have a similar way of fighting, I thought you might find these useful."

I smiled. "Thanks Aki." I tugged them on and flexed my hands a bit. They fit great. Comfy, too.

_'And the fact they add to your badassitude is a nice bonus.'_

Of course it is.

"You know, I wonder sometimes how things would've gone if you hadn't come here…" He mused. "You're basicly the whole reason we've been able to become a united group."

I chuckled. "Yeah, guess you've got a point there. Never really noticed, to be honest…"

"We've overcome so many things together…" Aki noted with a small nod. "And I'm sure that there will be more things we'll be together for in the future." He smiled. "But, no matter what lies ahead, we'll be alright." He looked over at me. "We're friends, and we share our fates."

"Damn right." I agreed, holding up my hand for a fist bump. Aki obliged.

"I hope that we'll all be able to work together…" He winced slightly. "All of us."

"Even after the Dark Hour's gone, right?"

Akihiko smiled. "Yeah. Even then."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Star Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Helel, the ultimate form of the Star Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

That's another 'sona I gotta look up the mythos for.

"And, hey, if you're ever going through some hard times, just let me know, okay?"

"Sure thing, Aki." I smiled, then our orders finally arrived. "Oh hell yes. Hey, Aki, wanna have an eating contest? Looser has to pay for the food."

"You're on!"

* * *

Author Notes - And that's the chapter! Sorry it took a while to get out, I've been having a bit of trouble. And yes, I know it's weird that Hamuko would find the High-Cut Armor that high up in Tartarus, but that shit's funny so whatever. And what's up with Roy's completed Social Links? They appear to be avoiding him. DUN DUN DUUUUUN. But more on that later! Chapter 38 will be the last week before the Full Moon, then 39 will be the Strega/Arcana Hanged Man battle! And after that comes some more kinda bad stuff, BUT WHATEVER! I have plans to put into motion. Like the end of the Tower Link and the Reaper fight. Mwehehehehe.

Also, hey! Cameo by the Persona 4 Story Protaganist! And for the record, both characters I was considering(Souji or the OC Rusei) have grey hair(Rusei's is a different shade, though) so I'm still taunting all you people with his identity because I'm EVIL! And there's some foreshadowing to stuff in that story with him as well! See if you can figure out what, but please don't spoil it! :D


	38. Preparing for the End

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - Izanagi is the single most badass Persona in Persona 4. It really bothers me that he's utterly worthless not too long after he hits level 5 unless you re-fuse him with new skills in a very long, annoying process. But that's what Action Replay and Codebreaker cheat codes are for! :D And lol your school shenanigans. The Roy VS Reaper Tartarus Smackdown is coming up quite soon after all the November 3rd & 4th events are taken care of, which means you'll have to wait about three chapters or so for it to happen. Possibly. It all depends on how long the Strega Battle and Arcana Hanged Man Showdown take in the next chapter. And I'm glad you liked the High-Cut Armor scene. I'd been wondering how to have it turn up in the story, and Hamuko seemed like the best idea. Just imagine Shinjiro's reaction to it! XD

**Despair's Cold Edge** - Well, think about it man. Aigis hasn't fully awakened to emotions, so any advances Roy makes would likely be pointless. However, you might aprove of his actions in this chapter. Can't be sure.

**Shadow Zeranion** - Thanks! I'm glad you like what I've been doing. Admittedly, it's more of a fusion of the Original P3/FES: Journey and the P3P FeMC path in terms of content, because just seeing standard P3 with the same old stuff, even if it's wrapped up in crazy awesome like in the Fairly English Story, can get boring after a while. Especially if it's in one of the fifty bajillion P3 novelization fics that've been springing up like mad ever since P3P came out(or at least it seems like there's more of them showing up since then, I could be wrong). And if you like what I've already done with the Reaper, you'll like my future plans for him as well.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

Note to self: Never challenge Akihiko to a ramen eating contest ever again. If it wasn't for being richer then god due to Tartarus my wallet would be screaming for mercy.

After that we headed back to the dorm. Aki headed up to his room for training or something, while sat on the sofa with Koromaru at my feet. He got up and moved over to his usual spot and started scratching himself.

"You itchy again?" I asked. He did a sort of nod. "Well, go get your brush and I'll take care of it for ya."

He barked happily, then got said brush. I sat down next to him and just casually ran it through his fur. He seemed content, then he let out a small whine.

"What's wrong?" I asked, then I realized I was brushing near that wound of his. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to agitate it."

Koromaru gave a short bark. _(It's okay. I don't mind.)_

Eyebrow. "Really?"

He barked again in affirmation.

I smiled and scratched behind his ears. Guess he trusts me a lot, huh?

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

_'I'd say he does.'_

Eyup.

"Heya Roy-kun." "Hello Roy-san."

I looked up at Hamuko and Ken, who were both dressed casually. Ken looks somewhat taller in jeans then he does in shorts.

"Grooming Koromaru-kun?" Hamuko asked with a smirk.

"Mmhm." I replied. "Gotta take care of the little guy. You two heading out somewhere?"

"I was going to take Ken-kun out to dinner at Wakatsu. Did you want to come?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good. See ya later."

"Alright, bye Roy-kun!" "Goodbye, Roy-san."

I chuckled to myself as the two of them left. I'm surprised, really. I didn't think they'd be getting along very well.

_'Ya learn somethin' new everyday.'_

That I do, Shade. That I do.

* * *

I went to bed a little while later for lack of any real reason to stay up very late that night.

At school the next day, I managed to catch Kaz at lunchtime.

"Hey Kaz, wait up a sec!" I called out in the hall as I approached quickly. "I need to talk to you!"

"What about?" He asked once I stopped infront of him.

"You gonna be busy after school today? Err, I mean after practice?"

He winced. "Uh, yeah. Sorry man, but Rio wanted me to do some extra practicing with her so I was gonna hang with her and Yuko."

"Oh…" My expression fell. "Well, that's cool. I'll just find something else to do."

* * *

Unfortunately, that was not the case. I tried to talk to Chihiro, but I couldn't find her. I just kept to myself after that and kinda shut myself in my room once I was back at the dorm.

"Good evening."

"Hey Pharos." I smiled as he appeared once the Dark Hour began. "One week till the full moon?"

"Mmhm." He nodded. "The twelfth one. Are you ready?"

"Hell yeah." I replied, then I laughed quietly. "You know, a lot's happened since we met back in April, huh?"

"Yeah." He agreed. "But, it's a bit soon to be reminiscing." He hopped off my bed. "How about I come see you once it's over?"

"Sure thing, Pharos. See you then."

He smiled. "Yeah. And be careful now, okay?"

Pharos vanished after that. Still knows how to make a damn good exit.

* * *

Next day was an Art Club day so I went there without the intention of actually hanging out with Keisuke. I just wanted to sketch and get my mind off the impending Full Moon.

About halfway through club, Keisuke kidnapped me and dragged me to Port Island Station with him.

"Sorry you had to leave club." He apologized.

"It's cool, but what's this about, man?" I asked.

Keisuke sighed. "I just don't know what I want to do…" he looked away from me. "I mean, do I want to become a doctor… or do I want to participate in Art Club…?" He shook his head. "All I know is that I'm not going to school or back home until I figure it out." WHAT. "I'll just find somewhere else to go until then…"

"Keisuke, are you out of your mind?" I asked. "How're you even gonna survive until you 'figure it out' or whatever?"

"I took my dad's credit card from his wallet, so I've got plenty of money." He smirked. "You don't need to worry about me. And I'm glad I had a chance to talk to you before I left." He took a few steps towards the train platform. "Tell the other club members I said goodbye!"

"Oh no you don't!" I grabbed him by the arm. "You're not going anywhere!"

He gave me a serious look and wrenched his arm out of my grip. "Sorry, my mind's made up." he took another step away and smiled again. "Take care of yourself!"

Shit, I need to find something to stop him! Anything!

As if on command, an old woman began violently coughing nearby and collapsed to one knee nearby us. I'd thank Deus Ex Machina if there wasn't a high chance of this being extremely serious. Keisuke quickly approached the woman.

"A-Are you alright, ma'am?" He asked worriedly. "That cough…"

"What's wrong with her?"

Keisuke's brain was already in Diagnosis Mode. "She's having difficulty breathing…" He placed a hand on her head. "And she's running a fever!"

He helped the woman sit down, then quickly looked through her purse.

"I-I knew it!" He proclaimed suddenly. "She smokes! This is definitely not good…! I think she suffers from chronic bronchitis… So if she caught a cold, It may have exasperated the symptoms…"

My phone was out by the time he said 'exasperated'. "I'm calling an ambulance right now!" Thank god Mitsuru told me what the 'call in case of emergency' number is for this town about a week after the operation in June.

"Thanks, Roy-kun!"

* * *

Keisuke preformed first aid on the old woman until the ambulance arrived, then the paramedics took over and sped off to the hospital once she was in the ambulance.

"It's up to the paramedics now…" Keisuke sighed, then shook his head quickly. "W-Well, I should get going…"

More Deus Ex Machina decided to strike, this time in the form of an elderly man clutching his chest.

"M-Mister, are you okay?" On cue, Keisuke was in panic mode again. Even more so when he glanced at his watch. "My train's about to leave…" He looked at me. "Wh-What should I do…?"

"Go call another ambulance or something!" I said quickly. "I'll take care of him till you get back."

He nodded quickly. "O-Okay, Roy-kun!" He quickly darted off towards the station as I kneeled next to the old man.

"Hey, take it easy…" I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and channeling Diarama into him. "Can you tell me where you're feeling the most pain?"

"M-My chest…" He replied weakly. "It hurts…"

"Whoa, calm down…" I started upping the rate of healing. "Just breathe slowly and evenly. Don't panic, you're going to be fine…"

_'You have no idea what the fuck you're doing, do you?'_

Now is not the time, Shade!

"Okay, I told him!" yelled Keisuke as he hurried back over to the two of us. He quickly went into diagnosis mode again.

"I think he's having a cardiac arrest!" He said. "Here, make him sit up…"

I helped the man into a sitting position, then Keisuke put two fingers to his neck to check his pulse or something. His face shifted into extreme panic.

"O-Oh no! He's not breathing!" Keisuke checked the old man's hands. "And his fingernails are…" His eyes widened. "I-I have to do something, or this man will die!"

"Just tell me what to do and I'll help you out." I said quickly. "We need to hurry."

"R-Right!" He nodded. "Turn him so he's facing upward… gently now…"

* * *

Keisuke went to work and started doing CPR until another ambulance showed up and the paramedics took care of the old guy.

Keisuke sighed. "Alright, that's all I can do for him…" He looked at me. "Thanks for your held, Roy-kun… I couldn't have done it without you." He smiled and laughed. "Can you believe it? We saved their lives!"

"Nah, you did the life saving." I replied. "I just helped."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fortune Arcana._

He was silent for a few moments after I said that, then he bobbed his head slightly and smiled again. "Well, I decided that I'm going to go back home. I know what I want to do now." He laughed again. "Guess I should apologize to my dad, huh?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

"Alright then, Roy-kun, I'll see you at school!"

"Later Days, Keisuke!"

* * *

I headed back to school to get my bag from the club room before I returned to the dorm.

I flopped down on the sofa as soon as I got there, and just stayed like that for a few minutes until I felt something nudge my hand. I looked over at Koromaru was there with a ball in his mouth. I smiled.

"Wanna play?"

He bobbed his head. Still amazes me how smart he is.

"Erright then." I stood up and took the ball from him. "Fetch!"

* * *

I played with Koro for a while and Fuuka walked over as Koromaru came back with the ball in his mouth.

"Are you playing with Roy-kun?" She giggled. "Good for you." She petted him a few times. "Good boy."

Koro barked quietly and wagged his tail. I swear, if he was human he'd be able to get whatever girl he wanted. He's just that good.

"Hey, Roy-kun…" Fuuka said suddenly as she turned her head to look at me. "I wonder… if we're okay as replacements for that priest. The reason Koro-chan always walks the same path and goes to the shrine…" her lips curled downwards into a small frown. "It's because he can't let go of that priest, right?" She looked at Koromaru, then back at me. "So… do you think Koro-chan is still feeling lonely?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I don't think so." I knelt down infront of Koromaru. "You're holdin' up okay, right? Not lonely or nothin'?"

He barked and bobbed his head. _(You all are my comrades in arms and my closest friends. I do miss my master, but I am glad to know you all, so I'm not lonely.)_

I smiled. "Thanks Koromaru."

"Huh?" Fuuka blinked. "Did Koro-chan say something?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He said he's glad we're his friends and because of that he's not lonely."

She blinked again. "I see…" She nodded slowly. "That's right. I kept saying Koro-chan is one of us…" She knelt down next to me and Koro. "But deep down, I may have been thinking of him as a pet…" She smiled and petted Koromaru a few times. "Koro-chan has so many memories of his own, too… I'm sorry, Koro-chan."

He barked, then licked Fuuka's hand.

She giggled. "What a sweet dog…" She stood up. "Roy-kun…"

I looked up at her. "Yeah?"

"Let's make sure to stay with Koro-chan for the priest too…" Fuuka's lips curled into a smile. "Let's go on living together with him…"

Koromaru barked happily, then ran in circles a few times.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Strength Arcana._

"Koro-chan, are you hungry?" Fuuka asked. "Would you like me to get you something?"

Koromaru stopped running and whimpered slightly.

"Hey, relax little buddy." I said, patting his head a few times. "She means like some of your food or maybe a treat or somethin'." I looked up at her. "Right?"

She nodded. "Mmhm. I bought some doggy treats at the store the other day for him."

Koro perked up and barked happily. _(Treats!)_

I laughed. "Well that certainly brightened his mood." I stood up. "Well, I'm gonna go to my room and draw or something for a little while. G'night, Fuuka. G'night Koromaru."

"Goodnight, Roy-kun." Fuuka replied as Koromaru barked. I turned and headed up the stairs as the two of them headed to the kitchen.

I was about to start down the hallway on the second floor when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Excuse me, Roy-san. May I speak with you?"

"Sure thing Ai-" I stopped dead when I turned around. She's wearing a maid outfit. Aigis is wearing a freaking maid outfit.

"Are you alright, Roy-san?" She asked, taking a step closer and tilting her head. "Your temperature is rising rapidly and your face is turning red."

"Y-Yeah…" I said dumbly, my eyes still wide with shock. "I-I'm fine… but, uh, what did you need to talk with me about?"

"I was wondering how you thought I looked." Aigis replied, stepping back and doing a small twirl in her costume.

_'Too… adorable… can't… snark properly…'_

"G-Great…" I responded, still dumbstruck by what I'm seeing.

"Thank you, Roy-san." She smiled, then her expression became worried again. "Are you certain you are feeling well? Your exterior temperature is still rising…" She started moving closer to me again. "Have you contracted an illness?"

"N-No…" I told her as she continued getting closer. Oh god, this is the best day of my life and I just thought of how to make it better. Just need her to get a little closer, then I'll-

"Hey, Roy, I wa- AIGIS!"

_**GOD FUCKING DAMN IT YUKARI.**_

"What is the matter, Yukari-san?" She asked, turning around to face the cardigan-clad Persona user descending the stairs.

"Wh-Why are you wearing that?" asked Yukari quickly. "A-And what are you doing to Roy!"

"I was inquiring if this camouflage was adequate." Aigis stated. "And Roy-san began acting oddly, so I was attempting to discern if he was suffering from sickness."

And you were almost close enough for me to grab and kiss you, only to have Yukari RUIN IT by showing up right there.

_'Imma kill her. I swear to god, I'm gonna kill that pink bitch!'_

Easy Shade. Wait till we have someone we can frame for her murder before we go about plotting it.

_'Fine…'_

"So, uh, what'd you need, Yukari?" I asked, intending to quickly prevent anything bad from happening.

"Huh?" She blinked. "Oh, um, nevermind. It can wait till tomorrow…" She warily looked at Aigis, then back at me. "Good night." Yukari turned around and headed back up the stairs.

I noticed Aigis had taken a few steps away. Damn it…

"Did I do something to upset Yukari-san?" Aigis asked curiously.

I shook my head. "Not that I know of. And where'd you get that costume, anyways?"

"Yukari-san was attempting to dispose of a bag approximately two weeks ago." She told me. "I was curious as to the contents of the bag, and she gave it to me. I found this inside of it, and decided to examine how I would appear in it today."

"I see…" I nodded slowly. This is reason enough for me to allow Yukari to live a little longer.

_'Agreed.'_

"Are you certain you are alright, Roy-san?" Aigis asked, looking at me with worry in her beautiful blue eyes.

I smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just gonna go to bed now. Goodnight, Aigis."

She bobbed her head. "Goodnight, Roy-san."

I slowly turned and walked down the hall to my room. I stopped and looked back at her as she ascended the stairs, then sighed to myself before entering the room. Probably not going to get a chance like that again for a while.

_'You never know, dude.'_

This is true… Eh, whatever. I'm goin' to bed…

* * *

Next day I hung out at Art Club again, but Keisuke wasn't around so I actually got to do some drawing to help myself unwind a bit. I was walking back to the dorm with Fuuka afterwards and we stopped at a video store.

"So you wanted to rent a movie to watch with everyone?" I asked as I slowly followed her.

"Yeah, something funny." She replied as she scanned the selection. "Something to take our minds off the upcoming operation."

"Yeah, I agree." I commented, casually looking over at the used movies bin. One sitting near the top caught my eye. "Oh, no way!"

"What?" asked Fuuka as I darted over to the bin and grabbed a DVD case.

"Hot Fuzz!" I grinned as I showed her the movie in my hand. "I didn't know they dubbed it in Japanese." I looked back at the case. "We are totally getting this."

"Is it good?"

I looked at Fuuka. "You'll have laughed yourself unconscious by the time it's over."

* * *

So we headed back to the dorm after paying for the movie.

"Hey, Senpai!" I called out once we got back. "There a DVD player in the Command Room?"

"Yes, there is." Mitsuru replied curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"Gather everyone to meet us up there." I said with a big grin on my face. "We're watchin' a movie."

"I'll get the snacks!" Junpei chimed in, already vaulting over the counter and heading into the kitchen. "Anyone want popcorn?"

"I do!" Ken called out, heading into the kitchen as well.

"Haven't seen a movie in a while…" Akihiko commented. "What one did you get?"

"One of my favorites that I'm very happy I found dubbed in japanese." I told him. "And we are going to watch it because it is awesome and hilarious."

* * *

And watch it we did. General consensus once the credits began to role? Well, Junpei said it best:

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

And then there was much discussing about various bits of awesome. Aigis even asked if I'd help her find a pair of Aviator sunglasses like Sergeant Angel had near the end of the film. I processed that mental image and approved of it. We went to bed shortly after, and again I stopped by Art Club the next day.

Near the end of club, Keisuke suddenly stood up in the center of the room.

"Everyone, listen up." He began. "I want to let you all know that I've decided to quit the club. Please choose a junior as your next leader."

"Wh-Why?" asked Fuuka, clearly shocked. "This is all so sudden…"

Keisuke smirked. "I have to study for my entrance exams."

"Then… Then you're…"

His smirked turned into a smile. "I'm going to med school to become a doctor!"

That surprised everyone.

"Did you dad tell you that you had to quit because you have to take over the hospital?" Asked one of the other members. I really need to get better about remembering names of the various club members.

Keisuke shook his head. "My dad doesn't have anything to do with this. I made this decision on my own. Anyways, that means I also won't be studying abroad." He sighed. "But since I'm beginning my studies so late, I'll have to pull all-nighters to make up for the time I've lost." He bowed to everyone. "I really enjoyed being your club leader. Thanks for all your hard work."

"He's definitely changed…" Commented one of the other members. "It's like, he's someone you can depend on now."

"H-Hey, what's up with all the compliments" Keisuke asked, rubbing his neck before looking in my direction with a sly wink. "Right, Roy?"

I laughed. He's finally dropped the honorific with me, eh? "Yeah, what's the deal guys?"

"Hey, Roy, can I talk to you for a sec?" He asked.

"Sure." The I followed him over to one side of the art room. "What's up?"

"Well…" Keisuke began. "Since I won't be able to talk to you that often anymore, I wanted you to have this."

He pulled out an award certificate type thing and handed it to me.

"I received it for being awarded an honorable mention in that contest." He explained. "Which made me realize that I still have a lot to learn." He chuckled. "Studying for the med school entrance exams is going to be hard, and this would only distract me… So, I want you to have it, Roy."

I laughed and carefully tucked the letter into my school bag. "You rely on others a lot, y'know that, right?"

He laughed as well. "This will be the last time I ask you for a favor. You're so much more mature then I am, Roy… I want you to know that I really respect you."

I blinked. Not expecting that, but I smiled anyways. "Thanks, Keisuke."

"Do you remember how we helped those people at the station?" I nodded. "well, just like you're an important person in my life, they have important people in their lives. If they had died, they never would have seen them again. SO that's why I'm becoming a doctor." He looked at me worriedly. "D-Does it seem like I'm showing off?"

"Not really."

"Okay, good…" He sighed. "I'm just trying to act more like a senpai." Keisuke turned and looked out the window of the club room. "I feel like I just went around in a huge circle… But I'm not become a doctor just because my dad's a doctor…" He smiled. "I'm becoming a doctor because that's what I want to do." He looked over at me. "If you ever need an emergency operation, I'll perform the surgery. I won't let anything happen to you while I'm alive."

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Fortune Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Norn, the ultimate form of the Fortune Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

Aren't the Norn keepers of the World Tree in Norse Mythology?

_'That they are.'_

Huh. That'll be an interesting Persona.

"Good health is very important." Keisuke commented suddenly. "It's best if you never have to see a doctor." He eyed me warily. "Are you getting proper nutrients living in the dorm?"

I burst out laughing. "Man, you sound like Shinjiro."

He blinked in surprise. "Shinjiro…? You mean Shinjiro Aragaki?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He's a bit of a health nut and he always made sure we ate right at the dorm."

"That's surprising…" He commented. "I mean, he's so intimidating…"

"I know, huh?" I chuckled. "Surprised me, too. But hey, if you wanna head somewhere to grab a bite to eat, I'm game."

* * *

We headed to that Wakatsu place to get some food, then parted ways afterwards. I got back to the dorm and still felt kinda restless, so I took Koromaru for a walk. Or at least I tried to, but Koro dragged me to the shrine.

Once we got there, he barked before running off behind the shrine, only to emerge a few moments later with something in his mouth. He walked over and looked up at me, still holding the object. I took it and inspected it. Looks like an old collar.

"This yours?" I asked him.

He barked and started wagging his tail. _(I'd like for you to hold onto it.)_

I smiled. "You've got my back, right?"

He barked again. _(Of course.)_

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Strength Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Siegfried, the ultimate form of the Strength Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

I kneeled down and patted his head. "Thanks, Koromaru."

* * *

The two of us played around at the shrine a little before heading back to the dorm. Once I got back to my room, I looked at the calendar and noticed that tomorrow is October Thirty-first, which anyone in America knows is Halloween. Now, Japan doesn't bother with that holiday all that much from what I can tell, but I'm going to sure as hell use this chance to freak Yukari the hell out.

Speaking of Yukari, she caught up to me at the school gate the next morning as I was plotting my evil scheme.

"The moon will be full soon…" She noted. "We're almost done. Let's give it everything we've got."

"Mmhm." I commented, then yawned.

"You get enough sleep last night?"

"Yeah, just a bit slow to wake up this morning." Not really, I just randomly had the urge to yawn. Now back to scheming…

* * *

My scheming was complete by the time lunch rolled around, and I managed to recruit Fuuka and Junpei to assist with my evil plan. Once school was over, I stretched my arms over my head and looked at Aigis. She looked like she was deep in thought about something.

"Aigis?" She didn't answer, so I tapped her shoulder. "Aigis."

"Hmm?" She turned her head to face me. "Oh, I am sorry. I was thinking."

Eyebrow. "What about?"

Aigis cast her eyes downward slightly. "I was wondering what could become of me once we have defeated all the Shadows." She looked at me again. "I hope I can continue to attend school."

I smiled. "Don't worry, you will." I cracked my knuckles. "Even if I have to break Sketchtsuki's legs."

Aigis' mouth curled into a small smile. "That will not be necessary."

"Alright." I stood up. "And, hey, Aigis, I need your help with something."

She did her head tilt. "What do you require assistance with?"

I grinned. "I'll explain on the way."

* * *

"Okay, is everything ready?"

"Affirmative."

"Junpei, you all set over there?"

"Yeah, I'm good!"

Fuuka, you and Yukari are on your way back now, right?

_{We'll be at the dorm in a few minutes. We're just down the street.}_

"Okay, they're almost here! Get ready!"

The room went silent until the door opened.

"Hey, what's with the light- Junpei!"

I heard footsteps as Yukari and Fuuka darted over to Junpei, who's currently laying facedown on the ground near the TV.

"Junpei! Junpei, wake up!"

"I-Is he alright? Th-There's blood on his neck…"

"Y-Yeah, he's breathing… I think he's just unconscious…" I heard someone shifting slightly. "Aigis?"

Cautions footsteps came in my direction.

"Aigis, what's wrong?" A sharp gasp followed. "Wh-What happened to Roy!"

"He will be fine…" Aigis replied in a moderately disturbing monotone. "It is nothing serious."

Aigis carefully placed me on the ground, then stood up.

"Nothing serious at all…"

"A-Aigis…?" Fuuka stammered. "What's wrong?"

"R-Roy! H-He's…!"

"He's most delicious." Aigis commented sinisterly as I heard her turn around. I have my eyes half open and my head is facing away from them, by the way. "And you look equally satisfying, Yukari-san…"

"Yes, you do…" came Junpei's voice as I heard him stagger upright. "Very delicious…"

"Wh-What's happening?"

"Oh, nothing much…" I said, sitting upright with an evil grin on my face before I turned to face Yukari. "We're just… hungry is all…"

"Yes…" stated Aigis. "Hungry… You must be hungry, too, Fuuka-san…"

"I am…" She agreed, grinning with a pair of fangs gleaming in her smile. "I hope you don't mind, Yukari-chan…"

"F-Fuuka…?" Yukari slowly backed away as the four of us slowly approached, her eyes wide with sheer terror. "Wh-What's happening…?"

I licked the fangs in my mouth noticeably. "Nothing you need to worry your little head over…"

"Yes…" agreed Aigis. "Soon, you will be one of us…"

"One of us…" Junpei and Fuuka said in unison.

"And, Yukari…" I began slowly. "There's something you should know…"

She swallowed hard, still freaking out as she backed up against the wall. "Wh-What…?"

I grinned. "Happy Halloween."

Yukari blinked. "…Huh?"

"Happy Halloween!" chimed in Fuuka as she removed the false fangs from her teeth.

"Ha! You should've seen the look on your face, Yuka-tan!" laughed Junpei as he removed his own fake vampire fangs. "It was priceless!"

"Damn straight it was!" I agreed, taking off the fangs I had on as well. "Totally worth it!"

"I am still confused as to why you required my assistance…" Aigis stated as she pulled off her fangs. "Even if vampires did exist, I could not become one…"

I grinned. "That's exactly why. The sheer implausibility of it makes it more terrify-"

Next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the room and upside-down, my hat flopping to the ground next to my head.

"Ow…" I griped as I fell over. "What the hell…"

"That wasn't funny, you know!" Yukari snapped, blushing furiously before she stomped up the stairs.

"Roy-san, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine…" I replied, carefully standing up. "Nothing some Dia won't fix." I put my hat back on. "I'll apologize to her later or something… for now I'm going to go to bed so the room will stop swaying back and forth…"

I took a few steps, then staggered and almost fell, but Aigis quickly caught me.

"Thanks…" I said as she helped me up. "Uh, can you help me up to my room, please?"

Aigis nodded, then carefully moved herself around so she had my left arm slung over her shoulders before she began leading me up the stairs.

_'You'd better not let this chance slip through your fingers, dude.'_

…I won't now that you've pointed that out. Thanks Shade.

I continued to silently lean on Aigis even though I was more then capable of walking by myself by the time we got halfway down the hall.

"Can you stand without assistance?" She asked once we got to my door.

"I think so…" I said, carefully standing up. "Yeah… I'm good…"

Aigis smiled. "I am glad… I was concerned that Yukari-san had hurt-"

She didn't get to finish her statement because I quickly pulled her close and kissed her lips. I pulled away almost instantly so I could look at her, ignoring the blush that is no doubt spreading across my face. Aigis' eyes were wide with shock, and her right hand slowly rose to touch her lips as her own face reddened. I smiled at her.

"Don't tell anyone." I whispered to her before I let go completely and opened my bedroom door. "Goodnight, Aigis."

"Goodnight, Roy-san…" She replied dumbly before I slowly shut the door behind me.

I sighed contently once I was in my room, then put on my pajamas before I crawled into bed.

_'You know, thinking about it now, that was something I wouldn't expect from you.'_

And yet it was technically your idea because you're me.

_'…GOD DAMN YOUR LOGIC.'_

Ha! Owned again. Now shaddup, I wanna get some sleep…

* * *

First thing I did in the morning was apologize to Yukari for the whole 'Iwatodai Vampires' thing, and thankfully she seemed to accept said apology, but she still seemed a bit angry about it. Rather then stick around to possibly get launched into another wall, I headed off to the shrine to see Akinari.

When I got there, though, he was grimacing and appeared to be having a hard time breathing.

"Akinari!" I shouted, running over to him. "Are you okay?"

He nodded slowly. "…Just give me a minute… so I can… calm down…"

I carefully sat down next to him, looking at him worriedly.

"F-False alarm…" Akinari began after a few minutes. "I had some pain, but… It's better now." He looked at me and smiled weakly. "It's calming down. Thanks." His expression became a bit more neutral. "I… stopped taking my medicine. It's not going to fix me anyway, right? It just helps for the pain and… spasming…"

"WHAT?"

"I know, I know…" he laughed weakly. "It's only speeding things along, but… my medicine makes me drowsy, and if my hands go numb, then I can't write anything…" His expression hardened. "I have to finish my story." He looked up at the sky. "The reason my story's unfinished… is because I haven't found the meaning of life yet. I get lost in my writing… erase it… and then don't know where to go next." He smiled. "When we're talking, I have a clearer picture. I can almost see it…" His smile widened. "It seems like that might be the meaning of life for me… I'm probably writing this book to find the meaning of life…" He shook his head. "Well, if I do find it and finish the story…" Akinari looked at me. "I hope we get a little more time together after that."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

"The sun… is setting…" Akinari noted. I looked over and holy shit, it is. Fuck, I didn't even think I'd been here that long! "I hope to see you again."

* * *

I want to know why Sketchtsuki just randomly shows the fuck up at the dorm sometimes. It bugs me most because all the time he's making HORRIBLE PUNS AND WON'T SHUT UP. Even Aigis was outright ignoring him, but she also didn't say much to me. I think it's because of last night… I seriously hope I didn't make an ass of myself by doing that, but damn it, it was still nice…

I went to bed early again and caught up with Fuuka at the school gate the next morning.

"Good morning!" She beamed. "Well, tomorrow's the day."

"That it is." I commented. "Just gotta go pick up some stuff from Officer Kurosawa, the Antique Shop, and my magic brain elevator and I'm all set."

"Good." Fuuka replied. "I'll be counting on you, and I'm positive a Shadow will appear tomorrow. Strega may be up to something as well…"

"I've already prepared for that." I said. "So don't worry. We'll take that last bastard down."

* * *

In order to at least kind of kill some time after class, I went around looking for someone to hang out with, but I couldn't find anyone. Kaz, Rio, Hidetoshi, Chihiro... No sign of them once school was out. I thought I spotted them a few times, but no luck. I gave up after about ten minutes of wandering around the school, I headed to the mall to stock up for the final battle.

Picked up some new gear for everyone from Kurosawa and snagged more Fusion Spell Gems from the Antique shop. Then came the Fusion Rampage at the Velvet Room. HOOOO boy, did I get some good ones.

First and foremost, I have Odin, the ultimate Emperor Arcana Persona, now. And holy mother of damn is he badass. He makes Thor's lightning death look like a half-charged flashlight, and he's got the ultimate lightning skill, Thunder Reign. Just the name implies that it's fucking metal. Up next is Siegfried, the ultimate Strength Persona, and Arahabaki, the ultimate Hermit Persona. Siegfried is a terrifying monster of cutting physical deathitude, while Arahabaki is rockin' this awesome skill called Virus Breath. It apparently cuts a quarter of the health off any Shadow and has a chance of causing poison, plus he's got Tetrakarn, a skill that will repel any physical attack launched at me or SEES once, kind of like these magic attack mirrors we've found a few times.

I'm also rolling with Melchizdek, the ultimate Justice Persona. He handles strike-type physical beat downs, and has the Auto-Mataru skill and Mediarahan, which fully heals me and everyone else. He's also got this passive skill that seems to make me able to punch harder, which is even more epic. I fused away Surt, and in doing so found out that his epic Ragnarok skill, which is the fire equivalent of Thunder Reign that he apparently learned RIGHT AFTER we finished killing Fortune and Strength, can be passed on to other Personae so now I've got this awesome Temperance Arcana persona Suzaku with it, and he's better with it then Surt was. Also picked up Atropos of the Fortune Arcana to handle any sort of Wind elemental stuff I might need.

Filling out two more slots on my Persona Roster are Daisoujou and Alice of, respectively, the Hierophant and Death Arcanas. Daisoujou handles a bit of healing with Diarahan, which like Mediarahan is a supremely epic health restoring skill, and Light Elemental awesome with Samsara. Samsara is apparently the Thunder Reign of Light Skills, except it hits multiple targets and thus has the potential to wipe out a small horde of Shadows. Alice acts as the antithesis of Daisoujou, and rolls with Dark skills and, due to fusion, Megido. She also has the ultimate Darkness skill, called 'Die for me!' which is probably even more metal then Samsara is because it's the power of Darkness, and from what Elizabeth told me spears are involved in it. To make it even better, Alice has Spirit Drain, which lets me siphon SP from enemies to replenish my own. While Light and Darkness don't work on Full Moon shadows, there's always the chance this one will have minions we need to cut down so this could help thin them out.

Rounding out the last of my Persona roster is Loki, the trickster god of Norse Mythology and, due to my means of fusing him, a damn good Ice-wielding Persona. He's got Garudyne, sure, but Atropos is covering wind so it's just a nice extra.

With my final Persona roster in hand, along with some new gear and stuff, I headed back to the dorm. I stepped in and everyone was gathered in the lounge. Koromaru, Ken, Yukari, and Hamuko on the sofa farthest from the door, Mitsuru on the lone chair closest to the TV, Akihiko, Fuuka, and Junpei on the sofa closest to me, and Aigis standing next to the remaining chair. I silently approached and sat down in the remaining chair, setting my bag of stuff down.

"Well…" began Fuuka. "Tomorrow will be our last operation."

"Yeah…" Yukari agreed. "We've been through a lot this last six months, don't ya think?"

"More accurately it's about seven months…" I commented. "But yeah, it was some rough stuff."

She chuckled. "It sure was…"

"It was a lot better than doing nothing, right?" said Junpei. "Besides, we made some new friends."

"I haven't even been around to help for very long, and I agree with you." Hamuko stated.

"Well, it's all been worth it, if you ask me." said Akihiko. "It's been two and a half years since I got this power… and you don't hear me complaining."

"Sanada-san…"

Koromaru barked.

"Two and a half years is a long time." Fuuka noted, then her eyes lit up slightly. "Oh, wait… For Aigis, it's been even longer, huh?"

Aigis shook her head. "I was asleep for much of the time, so I have not been in operation for very long."

"Ten years." I sighed loudly. "For me, it's been ten years." I laughed. "Well, at least for being in the Dark Hour. The Persona stuff started in April for me."

"Oh yeah, you grew up with this huh?" Junpei winced, then he looked over at Mitsuru. "How 'bout you, Mitsuru-senpai? After Roy, you've probably been in the Dark Hour the longest, and you started before Akihiko-san, right?"

"Me?" Mitsuru blinked. "…Yes, it was just me at first. Of course, back then, SEES didn't exist, and this was just a regular dorm."

"Did the Chairman recruit you?" asked Yukari.

Mitsuru shook her head. "No… I've been aware of the Dark Hour since I was a child…" She gripped the sleeve of her shirt a bit tighter. "One time, my father's research team was attacked by Shadows. That's when I awakened to my Persona… when I witnessed the incident."

"That's what happened…?"

Mitsuru gave a weak chuckle. "It seems I was the first." She winced. "If that had never happened, perhaps none of you would have to bear this terrible burden…"

"Nah, it would've happened eventually." I said. "Shadows would've come after one of us and our Persona would've awakened to fight them."

"Roy's right." agreed Aki. "Besides, the enemy can't just be ignored."

Mitsuru cast her eyes downward. "I suppose that's true…"

"It is true." said Hamuko. "But, we can't just sit here feeling sad because of what's already happened."

"Yeah." I agreed. "And I've said it before, but I'll say it again anyways. No one can change the past." I cracked my knuckles. "Anyone can change the future."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

…I am really not going to miss that.

_'Yeah you will.'_

Shaddup, you.

"We should all get some rest." Mitsuru stated, standing up. "Tomorrow night is our final battle."

"Yeah, we should huh?" Hamuko agreed, yawning slightly. "I'm tired anyways…" She stood up. "Goodnight, everyone."

I smiled and got to my feet as well. "G'night guys."

Tomorrow… we end this.

* * *

Author Notes - Or so you think, Roy. And yeah, I know the whole thing with Aigis was sudden and completely unexpected, but think about it. Roy's been crushing on Aigis for over a month and a half, so it's really about damn time he did something like that. Anywho, for refrence's sake, it is entirely possible for someone playing P3 to have that exact Persona roster Roy has at this point in the game. The highest base level out of his current group of Personae is 60, and if he could bust out Surt(base level 52) against the Arcana Fortune and Arcana Strength, this isn't that rediculous(I've seen a youtube video of someone at level 54 going up against the October 4th Shadows anyways). And yes, even though I didn't explicitly mention it, Melchizdek has a Heart Item as well. Roy wasn't paying very much attention at the time. This also means Thanatos, Kohryu, and basicly every other Persona with a decent Heart Item(Read: Element nullifying accessory or other such useful stuff like the Chakra Ring or Tome of the Void) is going to have one to give to Roy. Those'll get mentioned as they appear and such. Anyways, next up is the November 3rd Full Moon, and it's gonna be CRAZY. As is what follows, but more on that later... Mwehehehehe.


	39. Bridgeside Showdown

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - Izanagi No Okami is the only Persona more badass then Izanagi. Especially if you're like me and found a Chakra Ring in the final dungeon while grinding up to level 91 to GET him after already getting the one from beating the Bonus Boss of the Heaven Dungeon and equiped the protag with it. He's far more broken and awesome when all his spells are at half cost and he restores full HP and SP after every battle. :D And I've taken to a more extreme means of making regular Izanagi awesome via Codebreaker. I'm actually planning on starting my fourth playthrough by modding Izanagi's skills before the Shadow Yosuke fight just for shits and giggles. Mwehehehe. And I'm sorry about the lack of Shinjiro in a butler costume. I'll try to make it up to you before this story is over because I'm cool like that. :D

**Cyber Anko** - Thankies, I'm glad you like my story and how I'm doing things! ;u; And the prank was one of my favorite scenes to write, if only for the sheer 'what the hell is going on' vibe I'd like to think people get from it when they first read it. And Yukari Takeba is not just a Moment Killer. No, she's a Moment ANNIHILATOR. I seriously fucking hate her.

**Despair's Cold Edge **- I'm glad you approve. And you'll get to find out how both those things you mentioned turn out in this chapter and the next.

Now, before I start the chapter, I'm going to warn all you people. There's not gonna be Author notes at the end of this chapter or a review answer bit at the start of the next, as I have both this chapter and Chapter 40 ready to go. With that in mind, I apologize in advance for what Roy gets Aigis to say for the victory cheer after the Arcana Hanged Man fight. I couldn't help myself, and it's justifyable in-universe because it's only 2009 and it hasn't been done to death yet.

* * *

We had the day off from school, which made getting all the preparations done for tonight's Operation all the easier. Everyone was decked out in the best gear I could get ahold of for them. Me, personally? I'm wearing the gloves Aki gave me and the scarf Andre made for me. Elizabeth magic'd them like shit did my hat so they're armored and stuff now as well as more rewards for completing her requests. I'm gonna miss those two once this is all over. Granted, haven't had much in the ways of serious dealings with them, but I'll still miss them.

We finished preparing just in time for the Dark Hour, and gathered in the Command Room while Fuuka scanned for the Shadow.

_{I found it.}_ She reported after only a couple minutes had passed. _{It's currently at the south end of the Moonlight Bridge. The twelfth and final Shadow.}_

Sketchtsuki folded his hands together infront of his face. "This is it…"

_{And as we expected, there are two Persona-users nearby…}_ Fuuka's tone became grave. _{Strega.}_

"They know this is their last chance." Mitsuru noted. "Even though we were expecting this, we should still be careful."

"Those bastards…" Ken snarled.

Akihiko scoffed. "Saves us the trouble of looking for them."

"You've all done a fine job up to this point." Mitsuru stated. "This will be our last Operation. Let's all come back safely."

"Right." I stood up and summoned Mjolnir into my hand from its card. "Hamuko, Akihiko, Ken, and Koromaru. Your job is to tear the bastard who shot Shinjiro's arms off and beat him to death with them. Everyone else is with me so we can stomp his briefcase-toting buddies' head in." I tightened my grip on the hammer in my hand. "Understood?"

They all nodded at me.

"Good."

"Well, then…" Mitsuru began as everyone, sans Sketchtsuki, stood up. "We should be going."

The Chairman nodded. "Okay… Be careful."

Mitsuru started towards the door. "Let's go."

* * *

The trek to the bridge was silent. When we arrived, the two people we expected to see were waiting for us.

"You know the significance of today, do you not?" asked Revolver Anti-Christ as we stopped a short distance away from him and Emo Bomber Man. "You claim you hunt the Shadows to prevent the disaster they bring… Yet, countless lives are lost each day without their intervention…"

"Your point?" I asked dryly.

"The power we wield is not itself evil." He continued, ignoring me. "You cannot deny that."

"Never was." I growled. "It just depends on who's using it."

Takaya smirked. "So why don't you just admit it? You do not wish to eliminate the Dark Hour… You are merely deceiving yourselves…"

"No, we're not." I snapped. "The only ones deluded in this conversation are you and Box-O-bombs over there."

He sighed. "You are indeed foolish children…"

I laughed at that. I laughed hard. This caused everyone to look at me.

"What, if I may ask, is so funny?"

"You." I said, my chuckling dieing down. "There's only one Fool here, and you're looking at him." I made a sweeping motion towards the rest of SEES who stood behind me. "The rest of them? A Magician, a Priestess, an Empress, an Emperor, a Lover, one who knows Justice, a Chariot, a being of Strength, and one who spins the Wheel of Fortune." I took a step forward. "But me? I'm a Fool on his journey. I'm telling my own tale, and you know what? It's not some Fairly English Story, or some punk Lusnati's Style. No, it's the story of A Fool Named Fortune, and it's coming to a close here tonight." I cracked my neck. "Just like you bastards and the Dark Hour."

"Tch." Revolver Anti-Christ winced. "As I believed, our goals are irreconcilable." He pulled his revolver out of his belt. "Jin…"

"Forget these maggots." Scoffed Whiney Captain Dynamite.

Takaya titled his head back slightly. "Fate shall decide who will prevail." His expression contorted in pain and he staggered a bit. "Come! Now, you shall be judged!" Red mist began circling his feet as he clutched his head with his left hand.

_'What in the hell…?'_

"Death will silence these fools!" echoed his voice before a spray of sickly yellow glass exploded from the back of his head. What I'm going to assume is his Persona, which looks like a grey skinned dude with weird ass wings violently grafted to his spine, appeared above Takaya. "Hypnos!"

The Persona, which was just hanging from its wings, looked up, revealing it's wearing a blindfold and raised its hands before an arc of lightning shot at us. We quickly moved out of the way of the attack, Hamuko's Auto-kaja boost kicking in which tells me that starting any sort of fight in the Dark Hour will trigger it.

"Hamuko, Ken, Aki, Koro!" I shouted as Hypnos vanished. "You know what to do!"

"Right!" Akihiko replied before he charged forward with Ken right behind him.

"Hebe!" **BANG**

A blast of ice impacted between the two members of Strega, causing them to move away from each other just in time for Aki to knock Gunslinger Hippie to the ground with a punch in the jaw.

"Takaya!"

"Oh no ya don't!" I shouted, leaping at Jin with Mjolnir. He dodged the attack, but now I'm between him and Takaya. "You've got other things to worry about, Demolition Dipshit!"

"Obey my command!" "Persona!" **BANG BANG**

Jin barely managed to avoid the ice spear from Mitsuru and the flying tackle from Hermes. He snarled slightly, then pointed an evoker at his head.

"GO!" he shouted, red mist spiraling around him as well before that same disgusting yellow glass came out of his head after he pulled the trigger. His Persona looks like some kind of weird silver robot-slash-spinning top thing with two legs and only one arm.

_**FWOOM**_

And it throws around fire! GREAT.

_'Fuuka, can you see if Jin's Persona has any weaknesses?'_

_{I will, just give me a second to scan him.}_

Thanks! Now then, Persona switch and… "Odin!" **BANG**

The leader of the Norse Pantheon arose with his spear at the ready, then waved his hand, causing a truly wicked bolt of lightning to fry Jin. Dude looks like he's spasming from the attack still, too…

"Summoning Persona!"

Palladion surged forward and slammed into him, knocking him flat on his back.

"Nice one, Ai-chan!" Junpei cheered.

_{Everyone, be careful! I sense a large group of Shadows approaching from the far side of the bridge!}_

SHIT. Okay, new plan! "Junpei! Take Aigis, Yukari and Koromaru and hold off the Shadows while we deal with Strega!"

"Alright!" he yelled back. "Ai-chan, Yuka-tan, let's go!" He darted past me with the two girls following behind, then he whistled. "Koromaru! We need your help, little buddy!"

I heard a bark in reply as Jin did some kind of break dancing move to get back to his feet.

"Heh, looks like playtime's over, kids." He smirked as he readied his evoker again. "It's time for the real deal! Moros!"

His persona appeared again and used Tarukaja on him before he chucked a grenade in our direction.

I dove out of the way, but Mitsuru didn't move fast enough and was caught in the blast.

"Mitsuru!"

"I'm alright, Fortune." She replied calmly, not a scratch or burn on her. Wait, what?

_'That explosion apparently counts as a Fire attack as far as Persona resistances are concerned. And what did that pendant we gave to Mitsuru render her immune to?'_

Oh hell yes. And hey, Fuuka, what's the status on Jin's Persona?

_{It repels Fire and Darkness and nullifies Light.}_ She reported.

Well darn, so I can't burn his ass with Ragnarok. OH WELL. I've got a hammer 'n imma introduce it to his FACE. I can also do this! Persona switch, and "Atropos!" **BANG** Mind charge! **BANG** And launch a Garudyne at Jin, blasting the prick into the air hard enough for Mitsuru to snipe him an ice blast to freeze his left arm and part of his torso before he hit the ground again.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for this!" snarled the Strega member as he summoned Moros to melt the ice. I guess he doesn't know how to channel Persona abilities, and I'm not about to tell him about that shit. That would just make kicking his ass HARDER. Probably.

"Bring it on, jackass!" I taunted, resting Mjolnir on my shoulder slightly. Jin took the taunt and charged at me, swinging his briefcase wildly in an attempt to actually hit me. In addition to being capable of Wind attacks more powerful then Yukari can manage, Atropos is crazy fast so dodging is easier. As a side note, I find it interesting that Atropos has a red outfit on and yet doesn't learn fire skills. But enough about that, I've got a bomb-toting bastard to deal with.

"C'mon, that all you got?" I jabbed as I ducked under a haymaker and tripped Jin with a leg sweep. "Thought you guys were supposed to be tough!"

Jin responded by kicking me in the chest with both legs before he sprang to his feet. "It ends here!" **BANG**

Moros appeared again and threw a Mudo at me. A MUDO. Are you kidding me? It didn't work, obviously, but still. This guy's trying to put up a fight and his best skills are Maragilao and Mudo? This is pathetic.

"That your best shot?" I asked with a bored expression and a raised eyebrow before I pointed my evoker at my head. Persona Switch! Odin. "Because here's mine." **BANG** Thunder Reign.

Jin screamed in pain as the intense lightning coursed through his body. He slumped to his knees, still sparking from the attack. I think that's going to happen every time I use Thunder Reign on something. Damn.

"I summon thee!" **BANG**

A Bufudyne blasted Jin before Mitsuru charged in right behind it, slashing away with her rapier. She did a few stabs as well, which Jin managed to mostly avoid, but the suddenly Spartan kick to the chest sent him flying and landing flat on his back. Hot damn, that was cool.

"Damn it…" Jin groaned as he again staggered to his feet. "Is your power THAT different than ours…?"

The hell? "The fuck are you talking about?"

Before Jin could answer, Takaya suddenly crashed to the ground nearby. I heard quick footsteps behind me, meaning Hamuko's group is approaching.

"Ugh…" Takaya spat as he pushed himself up. "So… this is the power of those whose Persona awakened naturally…"

"Wait, what?" I asked. "The hell are you two chuckleheads talking about?"

"For us, it's not that simple…" Jin grunted as he struggled to stay on his feet. "Our power has to be forced out." He smirked weakly. "Didn't your pal tell you?"

"So it was you who was giving Shinji those pills!"

The fuck is Aki on about?

"You guys don't have the slightest clue what will happen if the Dark Hour disappears, do you?" snarled Jin before I could continue that line of thought. "It won't matter for normal people, since they don't remember anything anyway… but for us…"

"That's enough!" said Revolver Anti-Christ sharply, forcing himself upright. "We are far from finished!" He began to raise his revolver at one of us.

"NO!" Hamuko screamed, the- _**HOLY SHIT A FUCKING DRAGON MADE OF ICE JUST RAMMED INTO TAKAYA AND FLEW OFF THE SIDE OF THE BRIDGE WITH HIM**_**.**

"Takaya!" Jin shouted, running after his comrade and diving off the side of the bridge as well.

"What the…?" I looked over and Junpei was approaching with the others who were fighting off the group of Shadows that were closing in with him. Or so I thought, anyways. "Did he just…?"

"Jump?" I finished. "Yeah. And what happened to the Shadows?"

"I dunno." Yukari replied. "They just started retreating all of a sudden, so we came back to help…"

I sighed slightly. "I don't think we needed help. Hell, Jin was a pushover. I probably could've taken him alone…" I looked over at Ken. "What about the hippie?"

"His persona was dangerous." Ken stated. "It was capable of using multiple elements, and he focused on Sanada-san once he discovered his weakness."

I nodded slightly. "I see…" I turned to Fuuka, who had just approached the rest of us from her position just outside the field of battle. "What's the Shadow up to?"

"It's not moving at the moment." She replied. "It's just waiting for us."

I looked over at the far side of the bridge. I can't see anything over there. "Where is it?"

Fuuka pointed in the direction of the tower thing on the far side. "It's standing on the bottom of the support tower's overhang."

Standing? The hell? "How big is this thing? It can't be very huge if we can't even see it from here…"

"That is correct." Aigis stated. "I observed what I believe was our target while combating the smaller Shadows. It appeared to be roughly the same height as the Shadows from the previous operation."

"Really?" I asked. She nodded. "Hm. Okay, worry about that later. How's everyone doing?"

"I've been better…" Akihiko sighed wearily. "That bastard's attacks hurt like hell…"

"I'm okay." Ken replied.

"Me too." chirped Hamuko, holding her naginata with one hand as she struck a sort of victory pose.

"I'm fit for battle." Mitsuru stated.

Junpei smirked and rested the flat of his sword on his shoulder. "I'm good to go!"

Koromaru barked. _(Ready to go whenever you are!)_

"I am in acceptable condition." reported Aigis.

"I'm fine as well." Yukari commented.

"Alright then." I rested Mjolnir on the ground and leaned on it slightly. "We'll split into two teams again. Hamuko, Akihiko, Yukari, and Junpei are one team, Me, Ken, Mitsuru, Koromaru, and Aigis are the other. My team will go in first and see what this Shadow can do. Depending on how it fights, I may or may not call in Hamuko's team to back us up. Alright?"

They all looked at me and nodded.

"Alright then." I slung Mjolnir over my shoulder. "Let's go kick this pig."

* * *

Once we got about halfway across the bridge, we finally started to see the Shadow. Aigis was right, thing's about the size of a person. It seemed to notice us, and started floating in our direction. Once it was close enough, I saw it was standing in the pose of the Hanged Man card. Fitting, really. Eventually it stopped about fifteen feet away and thirty some feet in the air above us before dropping to the ground and landing casually.

Getting a good look at him now. Around the same height as the Arcana Fortune, and similarly a black silhouette of a person with glowing yellow eyes. He's wearing a closed dull grey trench coat with his hands tucked into the pockets, and seems to have dark grey metal boots on that look like the ones the protagonist from Spectrobes wears. It has a light grey beanie with a small visor with three random pins attached to it on the right side on its head. One pin is its Arcana mask, another has a picture of a cartoonish black blob with red eyes and little arms on it, and the last is completely black except for the white roman numerals for twelve smack dab in the middle. Also has a pair of glasses on with light blue lenses. Short white hair pokes out from under the bottom of its hat.

Honestly? I was expecting something bigger.

The shadow just silently stared at us. It then slowly pulled its right hand out of its pocket, revealing gauntlets similar in style to its boots on its hand, and seemed to tip his hat to us. Seems to at least have respect for us, likely regardless of if it kills us or not. I tipped my hat back at the Hanged Man. He nodded, then snapped his fingers. Three basketball sized orbs appeared behind him, each one with a sort of eye that was of a different color; One Red, one yellow, and one blue. Once they appeared, the Shadow began floating about three feet off the ground. The orbs moved around to put themselves between us and the Shadow, and I felt Hamuko's Auto-Ma-Kaja trigger, so this thing's ready to fight now.

Fuuka, get back and start scanning please.

_{Already on it!}_ She reported. _{This is it… I'll do everything in my power to help you. Just promise me that you'll be careful!}_

_'Can do, Fuuka! Alright Roy, let's stomp this bitch.'_

Hells yeah. "Persona!" BANG Atropos appeared and threw a Magarula at the Shadow and its orbs. However, only the orbs seemed affected by the attack. The Hanged Man himself didn't even flinch.

_{What the…? The orbs are generating a barrier to protect the Shadow!}_

Well shit. I didn't have time to think, though, as a flamethrower popped out of the red orb and started shooting Agilaos at us. We dodged around the attacks, somewhat faster once the Blue orb joined in with some kind of freeze ray that shot Bufulas and the Yellow Orb with a tesla coil gun to fire Ziongas. GREAT. This guy adheres to Fire Ice Lightning. Good thing my battle group resists or nullifies those kinds of damage, though.

"Yamagishi, can you scan those orbs?" Mitsuru called out as she danced around a Zionga before throwing an Ice spear at the red orb.

_{Just a moment…}_ Fuuka replied. _{…Each orb is immune to light and darkness as well as the element it uses to attack with, but is vulnerable to everything else.}_

"Thanks for the tip!" I called out, dodging a Bufula before evoking Atropos for another Magarula. The orbs appeared to be stunned for a moment, which Aigis used to her advantage, summoning Palladion to launch a Heat Wave, destroying the Yellow orb and further damaging the other two.

The Hanged Man then decided to actually do something, and pulled his hands out of his pockets and snapped his fingers on both hands. At once, two black portals appeared on either side of him and a Shadow came out of each. Both were like the Arcana Hanged Man, a black humanoid silhouette with yellow eyes, and they had dull white robotic armor on their lower legs, lower arms, and torso, with matching belt and helmet. On their chests about where you'd stick a badge was a Hanged Man mask, and they had some kind of backpack thing with rifles attached to them. The two new shadows both grabbed their weapons, then put themselves between us and the Hanged Man as the main shadow floated backwards a little for more room.

_{Roy-kun! Junpei-kun and Yukari-chan are saying those Shadows it summoned are the same ones they fought earlier!}_

"That is correct." Aigis affirmed. "Be cautions, they are dangerous."

"Duely noted!" I shouted as the new shadows began firing at us with what I think are slash-type physicals made into energy blasts. The Hanged Man's orbs kept up their own attacks while the main Shadow just watched. Seems to be a Minion Master.

_'Hoy, Fuuka! If this guy summons in four more of those trooper Shadows, have Hamuko's team come back us up!'_

_{Alright, I will!}_

Thankies, Shade. Now for a Card Bomb. Megido would me more effective in this scenario, wouldn't it? Got like a multi target thing going?

_'Indeed it does. Get to work.'_

Alright.

I quickly replicated a pair of Megido cards and tossed them at the Shadows. One hit one of the troopers, and the other impacted the Blue Orb, but both caused a chain of explosions that hit all the Shadows that could actually be harmed. The Troopers were lightly damaged, but the Blue Orb was destroyed a moment before Ken Ziodyne'd the Red one out of existence. The Arcana Hanged Man staggered slightly in the air, as if he lost his balance, then clapped his hands together before snapping with both hands again. Two more Trooper Shadows appeared, but so did a pair of floating robotic lower arms that looked to be about double the size of the Hanged Man's arms, and were linked to the movements of said Shadow's arms. Okay, this might be bad.

_'Okay, Fuuka, scratch that, we need the others, NOW.'_

And as soon as Shade said that, two more Trooper Shadows appeared.

"I summon you!" "I won't lose!" "Check this out!" "Help me!"

Four shots rang out, then Ice, Lightning, Wind, and Slashing death tore into the group of Shadows, causing them to move back before two of them punched the ground, creating a pair of chest-high black metal walls that they split and took cover behind.

Shit.

"Mitsuru! Hamuko! We need to make some Ice walls to even the playing field!" I shouted, switching to Loki and stamping my foot, creating a thick, chest high wall of ice that Junpei and Ken took cover behind with me as the Troop Shadows began attacking again. I peeked over and Aigis and Koromaru were behind a wall with Mitsuru, while Aki and Yukari were with Hamuko.

"Okay, so…" I said quickly as the Shadow's attacks wore away at the ice wall. "Either of you got any ideas on how to get rid of those jerks so we can take down the boss?"

"I got one!" Junpei replied instantly before he looked at Ken. "Ken, think you can make a railgun with your spear?"

"Huh?" Ken blinked. "A railgun? How am I supposed to do that?"

"You've got lightning, so just charge up your spear and fire away! Hell, you could even aim for the main one and try blowing him up with it!"

"That's actually not a bad idea, but that'd take to long and those bastards are cutting into this wall pretty quickly." I commented as a blast went completely through the wall and pass about an inch infront of my face. "Got any others?"

"Uh… Throw something at them?"

I sighed. "Nevermind…" Light Bulb. "Wait a minute, I've got just the thing to handle this!" I dug into my coat quickly and pulled out a yellow Fusion Spell Gem with a glowing lightning bolt symbol in it. "Man I'm stupid sometimes. Hey, Fuuka, tell everyone to cover there ears, this is gonna be LOUD."

_{Okay, but what are you doing?}_

I grinned as I crushed the gem in my hand, causing lightning to crackle around me. "CALLING DOWN THE THUNDER!"

Lightning sparked from my hand as I felt energy building up, then I threw the energy into the air, causing seven identical symbols to appear before powerful lightning struck down on the Trooper Shadows and Arcana Hanged Man. It wasn't as loud as I expected, but OH WELL!

"LET 'EM HAVE IT!" I shouted, standing up with my evoker ready as I switched to Melchizedek.

Seven Gunshots and a howl echoed through the air as we unloaded on the Shadows. I called forth an Akasha Arts strike from the righteous king, while Junpei had Hermes unleash Blades of Fury and Aigis fired off another Heat Wave. Mitsuru and Hamuko unleashed a pair of Mabufulas, Koro had Cerberus launch a Maragilao, Ken sniped the Hanged Man with a Ziodyne, Yukari threw out a Magarula, and Akihiko called down a Mazionga. With so many skills being fired off at once, all the trooper Shadows were annihilated and the Hanged Man got seriously fucked up.

However, it was still floating and I think it's pissed off now. Why do we always manage to piss these god damn Shadows off?

_'Because you're killing the shit out of them?'_

Rhetorical question, Shade. Shut up.

The Hanged Man looked to his right, then made a sort of motion with his right arm that sort of amounts to 'bring it over' or something similar. As soon as he did that, several Trooper Shadows suddenly jumped onto the bridge from out of nowhere.

Then a GIANT Trooper Shadow appeared next to the bridge as several more regular sized troopers hopped of its outstretched hand, making a grand total of ten Troopers in a small crowd on the bridge.

Shit, this is going to suck. OKAY! PLAN TIME.

"Mitsuru, take everyone except Junpei and go handle Jumbo over there. Junpei, you and me are going to beat the shit out of the Arcana Hanged Man." I said quickly. "No time for arguments, just GO!"

"Understood!" was her reply as Junpei and me took off towards the Arcana Shadow. The Troopers didn't like that idea and started firing, but Yukari started shooting tornado arrows at them, which drew away their attention. The Hanged Man was still floating as the two of us got within striking distance of his remote robo arm things, and he swung away. Junpei ducked under the fist that came at him, but the one aimed at me slammed into my left shoulder and knocked me to the ground. I rolled out of the way as the arm tried to smash my head into paste, then switched to Siegfried to channel a Power Charge before changing back to Melchizdek and evoking him for another Akasha Arts, which had the nice added effect of knocking the Hanged Man down.

"Here's our chance! Let's get 'em!"

"That's my kind of plan, dude!" I agreed, switching to Odin before joining Junpei in rushing at the Shadow. The two of us smashed away at it while it desperately tried to fight us off at a range that made it difficult for it to maneuver its remote crushing fists to try and kill us. I finally laid the fucker out with Mjolnir to his face, then I felt the bridge rumble and looked back at the battle against the Industrial Strength Trooper Shadow.

It's now decided to try smashing its fists down on the others as the little ones, who seem to have doubled in number, shot at them unendingly.

God damn it… FUUKA! Tell Yukari and Hamuko to come help Junpei with the Hanged Man, I'm coming back to take care of the Big One.

_{Okay, but please hurry!}_

"Junpei, keep him busy! Hamuko and Yukari are coming to back you up!"

"What are you gonna be doing?" He asked.

"Killing that big ass shadow, what else?" I replied before I charged towards the others. From the amount of attacks those Troopers are putting out, I don't think Yukari and Hamuko can get away unless I do something.

Good thing I came prepared. Persona Switch! "ALICE!" **BANG** "MAKE 'EM DIE FOR ME!"

The little girl giggled as she appeared and did a little twirl before a horde of playing card soldiers with spears descended upon the Troopers. About eight of them were actually caught in the attack and were skewered to death, which distracted the rest enough for Hamuko and Yukari to make a break for Junpei.

The Shadows decided to open fire on me, and I switched to Atropos and used clever Garu channeling to boost my jump height so I sailed over the attacks, then switched to Arahabaki in mid-air. Time to see Virus Breath in action! **BANG**

The clay doll persona appeared and unleashed a sickly green and black mist that arced with like colored energy on the Shadows. They all seemed to be damaged, and a couple appeared to be in worse shape then the others after the attack dissipated. I landed in a roll near Ken, then stood up quickly and ran out from under a crushing fist from the big guy.

"Okay, so how much of a pain is it to kill this bastard?" I asked, evoking Melchizdek for a Mediarahan on everyone before dodging what I think was a laser missile. I'm not sure, and I don't want to find out.

"The large Shadow is extremely durable." Mitsuru reported. "Yamagishi has informed us that it's immune to light and darkness, which renders our fastest possible means for destroying it useless."

"Well shit." **BANG** Marakunda on Jumbo and pals. "And even with kundas on the big guy, it's still gonna be a bitch…"

'I doubt Mitsuru, Aigis, and Koro could keep all those shadows busy long enough for You, Ken, and Aki to make a rail gun, so that idea's a no go.'

True. **BANG** Suzaku with a Maragidyne for great justice! What other Fusion Gems do I have on me?

_'Got another Thunder Call, a couple Scarlet Havocs and Shadow Hounds, twenty-one Cadenzas for to be used for Wesker-Fu, three King and I, and a single Ardhanari.'_

Ardhanari's supposed to be an epic firey doom thing, right?

_'Should be, yeah.'_

In that case, let's see what happens if I fire that sucker off at the same time as King and I and a Thunder Call.

_'Fire Ice Lightning?'_

Fuck yeah. And god damn, these bastards don't quit with the shooting, do they?

_'Nope. Good thing Siegfried nullifies Slash attacks, huh?'_

Yeah, that's probably pissing them off more that they keep shooting me and I'm not dieing. It's funny to me. But first! "Persona!" **BANG** Vorpal Blade goes snicker snack and Shadows get cut the fuck up! And now to unleash a three-element crossfire smackdown of awesome. "Everybody look out! Bustin' out the big guns over here!"

I pulled out the three gems I needed and crushed them between my ha- _WHOA THAT'S A LOT OF POWER SHIT I NEED TO THROW THIS BEFORE I BLOW MYSELF UP_

I quickly unleashed the three fusion spells at once, making a mental note to NEVER try that again as Fire, Ice, and Lightning tore the hell out of the remaining Trooper Shadows and severely injured the big one, but he's STILL not dead yet. God damn, that guy's a prick. Hey, Fuuka, how's Junpei's group doing?

_{They're doing alright, but the Shadow is giving them a lot of trouble.}_

Noted. "Aki, you and Koromaru go help out against the Hanged Man! The rest of us can take care of this guy!"

"Alright!" he replied before running over to the other fight. Looks like Hanged Man summoned another set of his orbs. But, not time to worry about that, got a big guy to kill and HOLY SHIT DODGE THE GIANT DOOM FIST. OKAY! Time to get creative.

Switch to Atropos, Garu boost jump onto the arm, Mind Charge, switch to Alice for a Marakunda on this bastard, now Atropos again as I use a Mind Charged Garu Jump Boost to get up onto his shoulder, channel another Mind Charge, switch to Odin, violently smash Mjolnir into the side of this bastard's head hard enough to make a huge crack in it, take out extra spear I bought yesterday, stab said spear into crack, jump off the shoulder before Jumbo grabs me and "ODIN!" **BANG** Mind Charged Thunder Reign on the spear stabbed into his head, sending all that through his body and shocking the hell out of him, switch to Atropos and use wind channeling to land safely on the bridge, quick switch to Siegfried for a channeled Power Charge before standing up and switching to Melchizdek and BANG Akasha Arts just as Ken fires off a Vile Assault, Aigis has Palladion ram the bastard with Fatal End, and Mitsuru throws a Mind Charged Bufudyne at him.

The Shadow howled in pain as it began to fade away, that little barrage of badassery right there apparently being enough to kill him finally. About fucking time. Now for the Hanged Man!

The four of us started towards the others just in time to see Koromaru jump onto one of the remote gauntlets, then onto the other, then leap at the Hanged Man and slice his head off with his knife. The Shadow evaporated as he slumped to the ground. I looked at Koromaru, who merely scratched himself with his hind leg a little and barked happily, dropping his dagger onto the street.

_'That was fucking metal. I mean… hot damn that was metal.'_

Damn straight it was.

The others were breathing heavily as we approached.

"…Is it over?" Junpei asked, slowly getting back to his feet.

"Operation completed." said Aigis. "Or should I say, 'Mission complete'."

"Yes…" Mitsuru sighed contently. "It's finally over…"

"I believe a celebration is in order." continued Aigis before she turned to me. "What will be our victory cheer?"

I cannot resist I have to say it it's the only time I may ever get this chance in my life "The cake is a lie."

"One… two… three…" Aigis threw her arms in the air. "The cake is a lie!"

There was silence for a moment, then everyone burst out laughing. Even Mitsuru was beside herself at how completely hilarious that was.

"Haha! What was that?" Yukari asked between spastic giggles.

"The golden opportunity for something ridiculous." I managed to say, my laughter subsiding into snickering.

"So, um, Senpai…" Junpei began, having somehow regained his composure the fastest. "You're gonna throw us a party tomorrow, right?"

Mitsuru sighed with a smirk. "You don't waste any time, do you? Well, I suppose I could arrange for it."

"Ooh! In that case, how 'bout sushi?"

"I second that motion." I said instantly.

"Sushi, huh…" Akihiko rubbed his chin. "It's been a while… Well, I've got dibs on the halibut and sea urchin!"

"Oh, then I call the fatty tuna." Yukari chimed in.

"Um, we're divvying it up already?" Fuuka asked. "In that case, save me the salmon roe."

"If there's any with prawns in 'em, I want those!" chirped Hamuko.

"Hey, wait a minute…" began Junpei. "You can't do that!"

"Dibs on shrimp and crab." I added, returning Mjolnir to its card form and tucking it into my jacket. "And possibly other stuff. Depends on what's there."

"I reserve squid, scallops, and sea eel." said Aigis.

"Hey!" Junpei protested. "That's not fair! You don't even eat!"

"Yeah she does." I told him. "I've seen her eat Takoyaki."

"You all should be ashamed of yourselves." Ken sighed, shaking his head. "Fighting over sushi." He looked up at Mitsuru. "Senpai, please order tamago for me. They say you can tell a chef's skill by how he prepares eggs."

Yukari raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Um, how old are you again?"

Mitsuru put her hands up slightly to try and calm everyone down. "Okay, okay. I'll have the very best delivered tomorrow."

"For real?" Junpei's face lit up. "Aw man, it's great to be alive!"

"Don't get too excited, Junpei. You're getting the leftovers." teased Yukari.

"WHAT!" he whined. "But it was my idea in the first place!"

Nobody could keep a straight face right there and we all cracked up again. Even Aigis giggled a little. I looked over at Mitsuru as the laughter died down, and she was facing the moon.

"I guess it's time to say goodbye to the Dark Hour." She sighed. "Even though it seemed like a curse, for some reason I'm reluctant to let it go."

We all followed her gaze up to the moon.

"Yeah…" Aki agreed.

"It's understandable." I commented. "We've grown so used to it, that the thought of it not being around just seems… weird, doesn't it?"

"Yeah… But, we really did it, didn't we?" Yukari asked.

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes… We saved the world, even if no one knows it."

I nodded silently in agreement, then we all turned and started back to the dorm to get some rest.

* * *

"Good morning."

Buh? I rolled over and sat up in bed. Hey, it's Pharos!

"This is the first time we've talked during the daytime." He said, then he looked out the window. "Nice weather, isn't it? This is indeed a new day… for both of us."

"Oh? Something happen for you?"

He nodded. "Yes. All the fragments of my memory… They've finally come together. I now know my role clearly."

Eyebrow. This is weird. "I don't really get it, but I'm glad you've figured out who you are."

Pharos chuckled. "Thanks." His expression fell a little. "But, as difficult as it may be, I must tell you something." Huh? "I am afraid this is goodbye." WHAT? "I want you to know… For me, our friendship was a miracle. But, miracles don't last forever…" He sighed. "If only they did."

"Yeah, but what can you do?" I grinned. "After all, no one can escape time."

"And it delivers us all to the same end." Pharos smiled. "I shall treasure our conversations always." He hopped off my bed, then turned to face me. "Even if today is the end, the bond between us can never be severed. Remember that."

I held out my hand. "I will. It's been fun, Pharos."

He shook it. "Indeed it has." He let go and started towards the door, then stopped and turned back to face me. He smirked, and saluted me. "Later Days, Roy."

I saluted back. "Later Days, Pharos."

He chuckled, then walked out through my door for the last time.

**CRASH**

Buh?

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Death Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Thanatos, the ultimate form of the Death Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

…Well, that's nice and all, but kind of pointless now. Then again, nobody ever said the Social Links would go away when the Dark Hour vanished, right?

_'Pretty much. Let's get ready for school. We've got an epic feast tonight.'_

That we do! ONWARD!


	40. Lies Exposed and the Master of Fate

"Ah man, I'm so psyched for tonight!" Junpei grinned as I walked to school with him and Hamuko the next morning. "You guy's stomachs are ready, right? I'm gonna eat like there's no tomorrow!"

"Hell yes my stomach is ready." I replied. "I made sure to not pack a lunch today."

"I haven't eaten anything since yesterday." giggled Hamuko.

"Ha! Me either!" Junpei laughed. "You guys better come back right after school! I'll be waiting!"

I laughed as well. "No need to wait man, I'm gonna be out of my seat like a gunshot once school's over."

* * *

And indeed I was. I practically raced Junpei to the monorail and then all the way back to the dorm. The sushi wasn't gonna arrive for a while, so we passed the time with Vesperia until everyone else showed up, then so did the sushi.

"Whoa… Nice spread." My thoughts exactly, Junpei.

"The slices are huge!" Yukari noted.

"Man, I'm starving…" Junpei said, rubbing his hands together. "Can we eat?"

Ken looked around and seemed bothered by something. "Hey, where are Aigis-san and Ikutsuki-san?"

I swear to god if he's packing her into a crate I'm gonna-

"He took her to the lab for a tune-up or something." Akihiko replied. "He said they'd join us later."

Oh, hey, maybe he's getting Aigis' weapons removed. I mean, she doesn't need 'em anymore, right?

_'That's a good point. Sketchtsuki shall live to see another day.'_

Indeed he shall.

"The chairman just can't stay away from the lab, can he?" Fuuka giggled.

I heard the sound of a car stopping outside. "The hell?"

Mitsuru stood up. "That must be my father."

Really? Cool. We all stood up and walked over to the front door as Mr. Kirijo and two people in suits entered.

"We've been waiting for you." said Mitsuru, smiling. She looks happier then basicly everyone else.

"So…" began Takeharu. "It's over at lash, huh…"

Mitsuru nodded. "Yes."

"Congratulation, everyone." said Mr. Kirijo. "You've done well. There are no words to express my gratitude. Though you will never receive the recognition you deserve, it is undoubtedly a monumental achievement."

Aki smiled. "Thank you."

Takeharu walked over to Yukari and took her hand. "To you, I owe a special thanks… for lending us your power until the very end."

"Oh, it's…" Yukari blushed. "It's no big deal…"

Takeharu nodded, then stepped back. "The twelve Shadows that were the cause of all our troubles have been destroyed, thanks to your efforts. You needn't bear this burden any longer." He smiled at us. "You deserve a chance to experience the joys of youth. The Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad will be dissolved as of midnight tonight. No longer must you put your lives on the line of battle. Tomorrow, you can triumphantly return to a normal school life."

A sort of awkward silence filled the air as we all looked at each other. SEES has been a big part of our lives for a while, technically less in Hamuko's case but oh well, so I guess we're all a bit sad to see it go just like that. I know I am.

Mr. Kirijo noticed our uneasiness. "Is something the matter?"

Akihiko shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing…"

"Alright, everyone." Mitsuru began, prompting all of us to turn to look at her. "It's time to celebrate. Your feast awaits you. There's no need to hold back; eat as much as you'd like."

"Sweet!" Junpei cheered. "I've been waiting for you to say that!"

"This is delicious!"

We all looked over at the sofas and Hamuko was already back over at the sofa and chowing down. Holy shit that was fast.

"H-Hey! Save some for the rest of us!" Junpei whined, darting over to the sofa with everyone else followed behind him casually, chuckling and shaking their heads.

**CRASH**

Wha buh?

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

Oh, just that one. Ah well, SUSHI!

* * *

About half an hour later, roughly half the Sushi that'd been ordered had been inhaled by the lot of us.

"Listen up, everyone…" Junpei said suddenly after he swallowed his food. "I have an idea… How 'bout we all take a picture?" He pulled a camera out of his pocket. "Actually, I tried to take one last night… but I forgot it wouldn't work during the Dark Hour."

"You mean…" Aki began with a raised eyebrow. "You brought a camera with you into battle?"

"Well, it was our LAST battle, after all…" He shrugged, standing up and handing the camera to one of the Kirijo Suits. "Hey, could ya take our picture?"

Yukari sighed. "I feel like such a tourist. But, I have to admit… I kinda want a picture, too."

The suit nodded and moved over to a spot a ways back from the front door.

"Wait, what about Ikutsuki-san and Aigis?" Hamuko asked. "They're still not here…"

Junpei shrugged. "I guess we'll have to take another picture later. Alright, everyone get together!"

I put my hat and hopped up, then walked over to the door with everyone else. Considering all of us guys are taller then the girls, minus Ken anyways, I stood in the back between Akihiko and Junpei with my arms slung over their shoulders. Hamuko was right infront of me between Fuuka and Yukari, while Takeharu and Mitsuru were on the far right side of the group. Ken was infront of the girls, holding Koromaru up.

"Is everyone ready?" asked the guy with the camera.

"You bet!" Junpei called out.

I made sure to make the goofiest possible expression I could manage just in time for the suit to snap the picture as I tightened my arm around Junpei's neck to put him in a headlock. I couldn't resist.

* * *

Some odd amount of time and a punch to the gut from Junpei later, and me, him 'n Hamuko were the only ones still eating.

"H-Hey, how come nobody's eating?" Junpei asked after swallowing the bite in his mouth. "Don't tell me you're full already!"

"Are you kidding?" Yukari groaned. "I'm stuffed…"

"Me too…" added Fuuka. "I couldn't eat another bite…"

"I'm surprised this has lasted as long as it did." I commented before popping another piece of Sushi into my mouth. "I mean…" I swallowed. "Between me, Junpei, and Hamuko, I kinda expected this stuff to be completely GONE by now…"

Koro walked over to Junpei and sat down.

"Oh… Hungry, boy?"

"Don't give the dog raw fish!" snapped Yukari. "You'll make him sick!"

Koromaru whimpered slightly.

_'It didn't max out!'_

"WHA!" I yelped, practically jumping out of my skin.

"What's wrong, Fortune?"

"Shade." I replied. "He just started yelling in my head." I jabbed the side of my head a few times. "The hell's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

_'The Fool Arcana Social Link! It didn't max out!'_

Eyebrow. "So?"

_'And the Tower Link with the Reaper didn't disappear or break or have anything else weird happen to it! If the Dark Hour's gone, how're we going to talk to him?'_

My eyes widened. "Oh fuck…"

"Roy-san, what's wrong?" Ken asked.

**DOOM**

"I AM GOING TO RAM A CHAINSAW INTO THAT BASTARD'S FACE." I roared as the Dark Hour kicked in. It's not gone. We're not finished yet. "WHERE THE HELL IS SKETCHTSUKI?"

Koromaru barked angrily. The two Kirijo Suits were now Coffins, but Takeharu was still here with us. Guess he's like Ikutsuki; Dark Hour sensitive, but no Persona.

"Apparently, I was right to have my doubts…" Akihiko spat bitterly.

Ken nodded as he stood up. "Yeah, something didn't feel right."

The sound of a bell tolling in the distance started up.

"No way…" Junpei growled.

"Hey… Do you hear that?" Yukari asked, walking over to a window. "It sounds like a bell, but… where's it coming from?"

"Everyone…" We all looked at Mitsuru. "Prepare for battle. We're heading for Tartarus."

"Um…" began Fuuka uneasily. "To do what?"

Mitsuru cast her gaze downward. "I don't know… but that's where the sound is coming from. We have to find out what's going on."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Tower Arcana._

Fucking Social Links, now is REALLY not the time.

* * *

The charge through the city was silent save for our pounding footsteps. Eventually we reached the base of Tartarus. Pricktsuki was there with Aigis.

"Ikutsuki-san!" Akihiko shouted once we were close enough.

"Aigis?" Yukari asked. "Why are you here?"

Aigis didn't respond. I looked at her. There's no life in her eyes. There's nothing there.

"She is here to merely fulfill her role." Stated the Chairman with a sadistic grin. "As a weapon."

"LIKE HELL!" I barked, about to charge forward when I stopped in my tracks and looked at my hands. They were still my normal hands. "What the…? Why can't I use the claws…?"

"Ikutsuki-san, what's this all about!" demanded Junpei, apparently having not heard me or something.

"You said the Dark Hour and Tartarus would disappear if we defeated the twelve Shadows!" snapped Aki. "That's why we fought so hard!" He winced. "But, now…"

"What is your intention?" growled Mitsuru. I felt the air temperature start to drop. "It was all a lie, wasn't it? You knew from the beginning the Dark Hour wouldn't disappear."

Ikutsuki clapped his hands sarcastically. "Excellent deduction, Mitsuru. Unfortunately, your realization has come to late."

"You lied to us!" yelled Hamuko. And the air just got even COLDER.

"Everything is as I planned…" stated the Chairman, his lips curling into a psychotic smile. "It is not unexpected that the Dark Hour and Tartarus remain. In fact, I never intended for you to rid the world of them. Quite the opposite, actual-"

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, Mjolnir appearing in my hands. I don't even care what he has to say right now. "I'M GOING TO MASH YOUR HEAD INTO PASTE YOU BASTARD!"

I sprang forward, fully intending to disintegrate his head when he casually pressed a button and a remote I hadn't noticed he was holding. A hand grabbed my arm, causing me to turn in time to see Aigis' fist an inch from impacting my face before my world went black.

* * *

**"Get up."**

I stirred slightly.

**"I said get up!"**

"OW!" I yelped, my eyes snapping open to see Shade standing over me, a neutral expression on his face. "The hell?"

I sat up and looked around. It's the casino I was in when I fought off that evil doppelganger the Arcana Lovers tried to brainjack me with.

"What's going on?" I demanded as I stood up. "What happened?"

**"Aigis punched you in the face." **Shade replied. He… sounds odd. And his expression is still blank.

I glared at him. "Why am I here?"

**"You know why."** he stated. **"It's because you failed."**

"I did not fail!" I snapped.

**"Of course you failed."** Shade said, spreading his arms outward. "**You failed because, for once, you didn't have an ace in your sleeve, you cheater."**

What in the flying fuck…? "What the hell are you talking about?"

**"I am a Shadow."** He began, a sinister blue aura appearing around him. **"The True Self."** He folded his arms and grinned darkly. **"You've always got something up your sleeve, don't you? Cards, words, there's always something you can use to cheat." **He titled his head in my direction.** "But you like it, don't you? It's just in your nature to cheat the world because to you, the world's been cheating you for years. It's all just a big ol' fuckin' game with you!"**

"Shut up!" I snapped. "That's bullshit!"

**"HA! Oh, but I'm telling you what you're thinking!"** Shade scoffed. **"It's just a game for you! And you're not even good at it!" **He pointed at me accusingly. **"Look what happened to Shinjiro because you didn't follow up on your anxieties about Ken! Look what just happened with Sketchtsuki having Aigis punch you unconscious because you didn't follow up on your suspicions with him!"** He let his arms drop to his sides. **"Face it, you've failed! You've failed as a leader, you've failed as a friend…" **Shade laughed. **"For all intensive purposes, you've failed as a human being!"**

"SHUT UP!" I barked. I want to slug him, but for some reason I can't move. "I HAVE NOT FAILED!"

**"Of course you have!"** He countered. **"You try to empathize with people, and where does it get you? They just keep you around till they work their issues out and then ignore you! Chihiro did it! So did Kaz! And Rio! And Hidetoshi! Bunkichi and Mitsuko! Hell, probably even Keisuke!" **His grin turned psychotic. **"You're worthless to them. Just an emotional crutch to be tossed aside when it's not needed anymore."**

"SHUT YOUR GOD DAMN MOUTH!" I screamed. "YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT!"

He laughed. The bastard actually started laughing at me.

"What's so funny?" I growled.

**"You!"** Shade responded, still chuckling. **"You know full well that I'm you, and I know everything about you!" **he gave me a piercing stare that seemed to bore right through my skull. **"And what about Aigis? Ah, that was your greatest failure. You care about her so much, but now, she's just Ikutsuki's puppet."** He frowned. **"He stole her soul and is using her body like a tool, and you don't even have the guts to do anything about it! You're just a coward! A sniveling, lying, cheating coward who can't even make real friends without spooky brain voices rewarding him with superpowers!"** He started laughing. **"You can't even fall in love with a real woman!"**

I clenched my fists. I've had enough of this. "So what?"

Shade's eyes widened in shock and his laughter stopped. **"Huh?"**

"So what?" I repeated, glaring at him. "So what if I'm a wuss? So what if I cheat? So what if I'm a fuckup? So what if I'm in love with Aigis and she's not human? SO FUCKING WHAT?"

Shade was dumbstruck.

"I'll tell you what." I snarled. "It doesn't matter. All that is who I am. The cheating, the lying, the cowardice, the affection… All of it is me!" I took a step towards Shade. "And you're absolutely right. I'm you." I charged at Shade and rammed my fist into his jaw. "BUT YOU!" I sharply turned my arm to slam my elbow into the side of his head. "ARE NOT!" I drove my knee into his stomach. "ALL THERE IS!" I smashed my head against his. "TO ME!"

Shade flew back and crumpled to the ground. I just stood their, breathing heavily. And I finally noticed I'm not wearing my hat or my jacket. Fucking Pricktsuki probably took them.

"How long you gonna lie there?" I asked Shade.

He stirred, then pushed himself up to his feet with his back to me. The sound of something crashing through a glass window echoed through the silence.

_"I am thou."_ Shade began at the same time the Spooky Voices decided to start talking in my head. _"And thou art I."_

He turned around with a smile on his face. _"The understanding thou hast sought hath finally been attained. The innermost power of the Tower Arcana hath been set free."_

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Chi You, the ultimate form of the Tower Arcana._

_"This understanding of thy self thou hast gained will never be taken from thee."_ Shade finished, walking towards me. He held out a hand with a glowing blue card in his palm. _"C'mon. Let's go get her soul back."_

I smiled and took Shade's hand and shook it, then my world turned to light.

* * *

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" I heard Junpei roar.

I opened my eyes. And I'm strapped to a fucking cross along with everyone else. "What in the hell…?"

"Roy-kun!" Hamuko yelled. "You're awake!"

I heard Ikutsuki laugh. "Just in time." I looked over at the bastard. Aigis was standing near him with Takeharu Kirijo's arms in her grip. "It's really too bad you won't find painless salvation, but I suppose it can't be helped."

"Fuck you." I snarled. Okay, can't channel for some reason. Bastard probably did something.

He laughed again. "Defiant till the bitter end, aren't you? No matter." He held up his remote. "Aigis."

She raised one arm and pointed it at Takeharu's head.

"You traitor!" Shouted the elder Kirijo. "Are you insane?"

"Of course not." Replied Pricktsuki. "You know, your father was an unlucky man. Even you, his son, after all this time, do not understand his vision."

"My father was wrong." snarled Takeharu. "Death as deliverance… That is not an ideology anyone should ever embrace!"

"Fool…!" He pulled a gun out of his shirt and aimed it at Takeharu. "You are but a nuisance now."

**'Do not move, human.'**

"HOY, PRICKTSUKI." I barked, smirking mentally. "One problem with that assessment."

He gave me a sideways glance. "And what's that?"

Three shots rang out from behind me, then three blasts of white energy destroyed the bindings on my cross.

"I'm the only Fool here!" I shouted, dropping to the ground before lunging at Ikutsuki. Aigis responded by throwing Takeharu down and tackling me. We struggled a bit, then I shoved her off of me. I summoned the Claws so I'd have an actual weapon, then started fist-fighting with Soul jacked Aigis. Or at least blocking as she attacked me. She quickly got the upper hand and managed to put me in an arm lock. I can feel blood trickling down from a cut on the side of my mouth where she hit me.

"Aigis, please! Let him go!" Yukari shouted.

"It doesn't matter." Ikutsuki stated, aiming his gun at me. "He will be the first to be sacrificed." He frowned angrily. "Ten years… I've wasted ten long years! I'm not like your father, Takeharu… I won't make any exceptions!"

"NO!"

**BANG**

**

* * *

**

I blinked. I'm still alive. And on the ground.

"FATHER!"

I scrambled to my feet. I saw Takeharu on his knees, clutching a bleeding chest about where Aigis and me were standing a moment ago. Aigis was on the ground next to me, looking at the scene with pure horror visible in her eyes.

She's back.

I quickly looked back at Takeharu, who looked at me.

"Stop him…" He told me weakly, then he collapsed to the ground.

Takeharu Kirijo is dead.

"The fool…" Ikutsuki spat. "A senseless sacrifice…" He turned towards me again. "But it will not happen again." A murderous grin crept onto his face. "I've planned for any scenario!" He started aiming at me again. "Without your evoker, you're nothing!"

I chuckled. "Well, you know somethin' Ikutsuki?" I asked, wiping blood from my mouth. "There's somethin' 'bout me you don't know."

He scoffed. "And what might that be?"

I slowly held my right hand up, a rotating blue card hovering in my palm as blue flames circled my feet. "I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' EVOKER."

I crushed the card as I quickly closed my hand around it. I felt a very familiar surge of energy as blue fire whipped around me.

_**'I am thou… and thou art I…'**_ boomed a familiar voice from behind me.

**_'From the depths of thine soul, the acceptance of thine darkness brings thine heart's true power to bear!'_**

I felt my Persona appearing next to me. I kept glaring at Ikutsuki, who's eyes were wide in shock and horror as he took a step back, his gun arm lowering. I noticed arcs of black energy crackling around me to the right.

_**'Shade has given rise to Azren, Master of Fate!'**_

"And you…" I began, noticing as the black energy from the claws began spreading up my arms. "Are about to end, Shuji Ikutsuki."

"H-How…?" He stammered as I felt the energy creep up my neck and over my face. "But that…"

_"Like I said…"_ Hey, my voice has an echo to it now like when Shade talks!

_'My name's Azren you dipshit.'_

Worry about that later. _"When I came here, fate dealt you all a Wild Card."_ I flexed my fingers. _"And your wild card came up as Death."_

Ikutsuki flinched angrily. "Enough!" he held up the remote again. Shit! "Aigis, execute the sac-"

An angry bark cut through the air as Koromaru appeared and snatched the remote out of Ikutsuki's hand, landing on the ground near Takeharu's body. He growled, then crushed the remote in his jaws and spat out the pieces.

Good work, Koromaru!

"Damn it!" Ikutsuki swore, then he reached into his jacket and pulled out an evoker. "I never thought I would need this…" He pointed it at his head. "But I am left with no choice!" Red mist began spiraling around his feet.

WHAT.

"CHRONOS!" **BANG**

The familiar sickly yellow glass that characterized the evocations of Jin and Takaya's Personae erupted from Ikutsuki's head. Behind him, a shape began to take form. It was the form of a semi-futuristic suit of tan-colored medieval knight armor with a clockwork theme to it and a long, billowing dark grey cape. The Helmet had a crown motif along the top and was left open, revealing nothing but darkness within the armor and two glowing red eyes. Chronos had his arms crossed over his chest and I spotted clockwork mechanisms in the joints, suggesting it's completely inorganic.

"So…" Ikutsuki began, a wild look in his eyes. "This is what it's like to wield a Persona…" He started laughing. "Incredible!"

He continued to laugh until suddenly Chronos grabbed him by the back of his neck.

"Wh-What are you doing?" snarled the chairman as he fought against his Persona's grip.

**'You are not worthy.'** it said monotonously , then suddenly a crack formed where its mouth should be. No, wait that IS its mouth. It opened wider, the jagged edges of it resembling sharp teeth over top a bright red backdrop.

Ikutsuki continued to struggle, then suddenly he started to look like he was being stretched out and was drawn into Chronos' open mouth, dropping his gun and evoker. He screamed a distorted scream as he was completely sucked into the Persona, then his screams stopped as Chronos shut his mouth.

Holy fuck, Ikutsuki's Persona just fucking ATE HIM.

**'None of you are worthy.**' Chronos stated, turning towards the still-crucified members of SEES. **'You shall all be consumed.'**

_'Wait, fuck, Chronos was the father of Zeus in Greek Mythology.'_

Yeah, and as I recall he ATE HIS KIDS so they wouldn't take his spot as top dog. Looks like we've got a brawl on our hands.

_'That we do. Let's get to work.'_

Right. _"I don't think so!"_ I shouted, summoning the card to my hand again. _"Persona!"_

I crushed the card, then Azren shot past me. Barely managed to get a look at him, but from what I can tell he's got a bright-ish crimson red jacket that's longer then mine and matching fedora. He punched Chronos in the face and it seemed to hit him like, three times and sent the clockwork knight crashing backwards onto the ground.

_"Aigis, get everyone down!"_ I ordered as Azren vanished. _"I'll hold him off!"_

"U-Understood!" came her surprisingly hesitant reply as Chronos stood up.

**'You dare oppose me?'** bellowed the Berserk Persona. **'Learn your place, knave!'**

He raised his hand to the sky, then thunder rained down on whatever the hell we're standing on top of.

_'Well, that's Tartarus right there behind those stupid cross things that Aigis is working to get everyone down from, so I'd say we're on top of the School Observatory.'_

Huh. Surprised I didn't notice that sooner. So, hey, while I'm dodging lightning here, care to tell me what the hell you can do?

_'I've got some unique tricks up my sleeve, that's fer damn sure. By the way, switch to a different Persona to see what happens.'_

Uh, okay. Persona Switch! Atropos and holy shit I've still got this badass super mode thing going what the fuck.

_'Passive skill of mine. Basicly lets you use me and another Persona at the same time.'_

Oh hell yes. What's with the dark form, by the way?

_'The Claws taken Up to Eleven.'_

Sweet. Let's see what we've got here.

I dodged around lightning strikes and charged towards Chronos, who decided to summon a fucking broadsword out of nowhere and try to cut me with it. I caught it with my hand and pushed it aside to I could punch him in the face again. He didn't take kindly to that, and began hacking away with his sword.

I dodged around or outright blocked his attacks, or at least tried to. He cut my arms a few times, and I mentally cursed Pricktsuki for stealing my jacket. He didn't do much real damage with those attacks, though, and I managed to start pushing him back

_{Roy-kun!}_

Yay Fuuka! Nice timing- Block- think you can scan this bas- dodge, grab, elbow to face- tard so I know what I'm up against?

_{I will!}_

Alright, now then! I grabbed Chronos' arm and hefted him over my shoulder to slam him onto the ground. He responded by glowing white for a second before an explosion of energy knocked me away. Thankfully I wasn't in danger of going off one of the edges, because that'd really suck.

_'You could just fly back up, ya know.'_

I can fly now?

_'I'm better with Wind then Yukari is.'_

Squee. Back to fighting! I sidestepped a blast of white energy that shot my way, then charged at Chronos again. He wasn't having any of that, though, and stabbed his blade into the roof, somehow creating an orange nebula of cutting energy that hit me pretty hard and knocked me back again. I switched to Daisoujou for a channeled Mediarahan in before scrambling out of the way of a Ziodyne.

_'Fuuka, what's this guy resist?'_

_{It's immune to slash attacks, ice, electricity, light, and darkness!}_

Damn, that puts a hamper on one of my best attacks. But I have others! Switch to Atropos, channel Mind Charge, switch to Suzaku and Hey, I can card summon my other Personae! Kickass! I crushed Suzaku's card in my hand, calling forth the legendary bird to unleash a Ragnarok on Chronos. The persona screamed in pain, and I think I heard Ikutsuki's own yelling. Fuuka, do you know what happened?

_{He's still alive, he's just inside that Persona!}_

Oh is he now? I may have to rectify that. Also, Shade, question.

_'Azren, god damn it. And what?'_

If I can use you and another Persona at the same time, that mean I can evoke two Personae at once?

_'Probably. Give it a go.'_

Sweet. Quick switch to Odin to absorb his Ziodyne and spite the prick, change to Siegfried for a channeled Power Charge, then switch in Melchizdek and try summon a Persona Card to both my hands... And it works! _"PERSONA!"_

I crushed both cards, calling forth the righteous king and the master of fate to unleash dual power charged Akasha Arts, which seriously wrecked Chronos' shit.

"Roy-san!" I heard someone call out behind me. "Catch!"

I looked over my shoulder in time to see Ken chuck my jacket to me. I caught it and quickly slipped it on, wasting no time in pulling a Cadenza Gem and charging myself with it. Chronos was back on his feet and throwing lightning and energy my way.

**'Give up, mortal!'** Chronos shouted, his voice somehow echoing with Ikutsuki's. **'You cannot defeat the ruler of the new world with such feeble power!'**

Oh great, the prick pulled a body jacking from inside that things stomach. Actually, fuck this, I'm done screwing around. Time to end this shit. I charged at Chronos, evading his attacks easily until I was close enough, then I drove my clawed left hand into Chronos' head. His sword dropped from his hand as he grabbed my arm and tried to pull it out.

**'Unhand me, you wretch!' **He barked angrily as I actually managed to hoist him off the ground a little. **'I AM YOUR BETTER!'**

_"No, you're not!"_ I snapped. _"You're just a Persona! But me…"_ I drew my right hand back, then rammed it into his chest. _"I AM A MAN!"_

God damn the internet and its memes why did I have to say that I know I just whiplashed the mood harder then a fighter jet hitting the ground at mach five son of a bitch

_'Focus!'_

Right. Chronos screamed in pain as I slowly pushed my hand further into his chest, then I grabbed hold of something. Gotcha bitch.

_"GET OUTTA THERE!"_ I yelled, tearing my hand out of the Persona's chest, pulling Ikutsuki out with it and throwing him behind me. Chronos' hands went limp and dropped to his sides. I glared at the body, then obliterated his head by closing my fist around it. I turned around as the Persona dissipated, seeing Ikutsuki weakly staggering to his feet.

I turned and ran at him, snatching his gun off the ground as I moved and rammed my clawed fingers into his chest, then grabbed hold of his ribcage. He coughed and blood began to trickle from his mouth.

"Why…?" He asked weakly as I lifted him off the ground my his torso. "I was… so close…"

_"Shut up."_ I said, turning away from the others. _"And you know Pricktsuki, I once told someone that I don't know what it's like to have killed another person, willingly or otherwise." _I started towards the edge of the roof, switching my Persona to Suzaku. _"Thanks for letting me find out."_

I threw the bastard's body upwards and over the edge, quickly pointing his own gun at him while he was still in mid air.

_"Burn in hell."_ I snarled, firing a single bullet. It went right into his skull, then he burst into flames. Channeling Ragnarok into a bullet will do shit like that apparently. I lowered my arm as the former Chairman's burning corpse plummeted to the ground. I sighed, turning around at discarding the gun onto the roof as I approached the others. I felt the Up to Eleven claws vanish, returning me to normal as I saw Mitsuru clinging to her father's body.

"Roy."

I glanced at Akihiko, who was holding my hat out to me. I took it, then placed it on my head and pulled it low to partly cover my eyes.

"How did it come to this…?" Yukari asked nobody in particular.

There was silence for a few moments afterwards before Mitsuru finally began to speak.

"One time…" She began, her voice cracking. "My father made a promise. He swore that he would atone for endangering our generation, even if it cost him his life…" She hugged his body tighter. "But, I…" Tears began rolling down her cheeks. "I wanted him to live… I…" Her head lowered. "I became a Persona-user to protect him…"

At those words, she finally broke down into sobs. Pained, sorrowful sobs of one who's lost someone precious to them.

I know that feeling all to well.

I silently moved closer to Mitsuru, carefully picking up her father's body as Akihiko helped her to her feet. The only sound echoing through the night as we returned to the dorm was our footsteps and Mitsuru's sobbing.

Our ordeal is far from over.

* * *

Author Notes - Indeed it is. SO PEOPLE. What cha' think? And yes, I'll explain Azren's deal in the next chapter. And the Tower Link. It's going to be a bit exposition heavy, at least for part of it. But for those of you wondering, I do have a skill set and resistances for Azren picked out. It's at the end of these notes. And now that this event is out of the way, I'm finally going to start living up to my promise of crazy kicking in! Roy's got a kickass new Persona and no real reason to stick to the rules anymore(Not that he really was in the first place, but oh well). And once again, I apologize for the 'Cake is a lie' line in Chapter 39. It's just funny for me to think about. And to explain to anyone who's wondering about Roy's Atropos and how he comments on it having a red outfit, go to the Shin Megami Tensei wiki and look her up. At the bottom of her page is a design from the SMT: DemiKids games, which is never actually used in the Persona series. That's what Roy's Atropos looks like because I actually really hate the design for her in P3 and P4.

Persona: Azren  
Arcana: Fool  
Level: 61  
Attributes: Resists Strike, Wind, Light, and Darkness.  
Skills:  
Chain Hit - 2-3 hits of Large Strike Damage on one enemy (Cost: 20% HP)  
Wild Card - Inflict Large Almighty Physical Damage on all enemies (Cost: 60 SP)  
Double Up - This Persona is always considered 'Active' and its skills can be used even when a different Persona is equiped in battle. Passive effects are shared, but the equiped Persona's resistances are used rather then those of the Persona with this skill.  
Jack's Trade - Halves Cost of all Physical and Magic Skills(Only effects the Persona with this skill if Double Up is in effect)  
Garudyne  
Magarudyne  
Akasha Arts  
Wind Amp

As you can see, Azren is kind of broken. And yes, the Wild Card skill is the scorce of the Claws. And Double Up is how Roy's been able to use the claws dispite not actually having Azren as a true Persona till this chapter. Also, cookie to the person who spots the pun with the skill 'Jack's Trade'.


	41. Railgun beats everything

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Shadow Zeranion **- The Ikutsuki Persona was an early idea of mine, and it took me a while to think of how to do it without encroaching on the Fairly English Story's schtick with that scene. And I also found I spelled the name wrong, it's supposed to be Cronus, but I'm hoping people aren't going to get too nit-picky about that detail. And yes, Jack's Trade is a play on 'Jack of all Trades'. Granted it would fit better if Azren was a multi-elemental Persona, but whatever.

**Astrih Konnash** - Perhaps you do see a spoiler. Or perhaps I'm just messing with you for giggles. Or perhaps I'm doing what I did when someone(I forget who) correctly guessed Hamuko would be more then just a cameo and am deliberately lieing to you dispite you being completely correct. Who's to say? :D And sorry for the typo, I'll fix it... soon or something. I have a lot of typos in this entire story, but I'm a bit too lazy to completely re-upload chapters just to fix one thing when I'm already this far in the story. I should really be more diligent with my usage of the spelling/grammar checker. And I'm glad you liked Roy's resolution. Not many fics that I've seen have handled the Protaganist's own sort of resolution, so I figure'd I'd give it a shot.

**Overlord Duelist **- I was completely unaware that any mythos existed surrounding the name 'Azren' when I came up with the idea for him. It's actually the name of a different OC(A diety, if you're wondering) of mine that I felt would work as a completely original Persona. The Azren in Roy's head is not from the mythos you mentioned, but I'll be sure to have a scene where Roy googles for info on him and finds out about those before he officially puts a 'you ain't got a mythos' stamp on Azren in a future chapter(probably chapter 42). But yeah, to make this perfectly clear, Roy's Azren is completely made the fuck up and is not based on any sort of mythology. I just needed a God of Luck and Fate to be Roy's Persona, couldn't find any good ones, then said 'fuck it' and made one up.

**Despair's Cold Edge** - The speech was something I wanted to do forever. TITLE DROP X3 COMBO! And two of them for stories I DIDN'T EVEN WRITE. And I'm glad you liked the wall to wall fight sequences in those chapters! I honestly thought they weren't very good, but then again the Jin and Takaya fights were kinda underwhelming anyways so I'm at least glad I managed to squeeze out a little awesome from it. Hamuko's Ice Dragon is still my favorite part. I've wanted to have her do that to Takaya since the beginning of the story. And the Trooper Shadows will be back, and there's gonna be(hopefully) more awesome in this chapter. You'll see why for yourself when you read it. :D

**eggmeister** - I'M SORRY! I couldn't help it, I thought it was hilarious in context! D: But yeah, if you don't think Azren's broken yet, just WAIT till Roy starts reaching the level cap with him. And the whole deal with his Social Link friends using him as an emotional crutch is just some paranoia Roy had that he didn't want to acknowledge. His friends do care about him, Roy just picked bad days to try to hang out, so I don't mind if you want to use something similar.

**Fanfic Reader Guy **- Shade doesn't HAVE a Persona, he IS a Persona now. It'll get explained in this chapter. And yeah, I explained the whole thing with Jack's Trade a few lines up in my responce to Shadow Zeranion. And if you like having me completely BLOW YOUR DAMN MIND, then you might like this chapter a lot as well. :D

And DAMN this is the longest pre-chapter review thing I've ever done! Anywho, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

Junpei was a bit late getting back to the dorm then the rest of us, as I asked him to look for where Ikutsuki might've landed and incinerate whatever might've been left. He was all too happy to oblige. I stayed up waiting for him to get back, and when he did he stated on no uncertain terms 'the bastard's nothing but dust in the wind.'

I'll be amazed if I actually get any sleep tonight…

* * *

_='HELLO THERE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN~! HELLO THERE LADIES AND GENTS~! Are you ready to rock~? Are you ready or not~?'=_

Fucking alarm, shut up…

_='Hello there ladies and gentlemen~! He-'=_ **WHACK**

Much better. I'll get up in… whenever…

_"Get up."_

Muh?

_"I said get up!"_

Something small hit my head. "Ow! What the fuck!" I pushed myself into a sitting position. "What the he-"

I stopped and blinked.

_"Yo."_ Greeted Shade, standing about a foot tall and next to my alarm clock. He looks different… OH YEAH he resolved last night… or something…

_"That I did."_ He said, hopping off the stand and onto the floor. _"And my name's Azren."_

"It's gonna take a little while to get used to that…" I sighed, pushing my legs over the side of my bed. Then I looked at him. "Wait, how the hell…?"

_"Oh, this?"_ He pointed at himself after he easily leapt from the floor onto my desk and turned around. _"This is what happens when you accept your Shadow."_

Eyebrow. "Huh?"

Azren sighed. _"Okay, it's like this. Up till now, you've been denying me, your Shadow. In that case, it's like two gears out of alignment; the teeth don't mesh and they damage each other." _He folded his arms. _"Obviously this is not good. Now, once you accept your Shadow, the gears are aligned properly and work all well and good. Basicly your more 'attuned' to yourself, and this reflects by letting me, your Persona, manifest more easily, hence the whole card summoning thing and this." _He sighed again. _"Though obviously there's a size restriction on it…"_

I blinked. That's… actually kind of neat, because now I might look less crazy when I yell at him. "So, wait, can you like, jump back into my head?"

He nodded. _"Oh yeah."_

"Cool…" I bobbed my head slightly.

Finally getting a look at his new appearance. He's got a very nice crimson semi-trench coat and matching… I think that's a trilby, not a fedora, with a dark grey band. Not sure. The sleeves of his jacket look like the cuffs were rolled back, then buttoned and it honestly looks good. Under the jacket is a dark grey button-up vest like Akihiko's, along with a white dress shirt under it and a dark red tie. Got on black semi-loose, but still close-fitting slacks and what look kind of like grey cowboy boots. He's also got a sort of loose grey scarf covering his neck, but I don't think it's got an end hanging out like you'd expect a badass scarf of asskicking to have. Still cool. His hair looks kind of like mine, except completely dark grey in color, a bit longer and slightly unkempt and wild lookin' while still somehow managing to appear formal. His skin is completely black and I actually can't tell if he has any facial features at all, though he has two easily visible yellow eyes and dark grey eyebrows. In all? He looks like he could be a sorta stereotypical 60's gangster wearing a trench coat and scarf with slightly messy hair.

"Not a bad look for ya." I commented, standing up and walking over to my mirror. I looked at my reflection for a second, then tried out the Up To Eleven claws again because I wanna see what it does to me. My skin turns completely black and my eyes turn into cartoonishly expressive red circles. My hair also turns completely red, and if I turn my head so some strands are covering one of my eyes, you can still see the eye because the spot that should be covered turns black. I opened my mouth and it's just sort of a silhouette of one made of the same red as my eyes. It also reacts to expressions pretty well, as when I tried to look angry the top and bottom turned jagged like shark teeth. That's badass.

_"Like the Joker State, do ya?"_

I turned around and dispelled the UTE Claws. "Joker State?"

Azren nodded. _"Yeah, that's what I decided to call it because those jokers in your hat were glowing their respective colors when you were like that."_

Eyebrow. I looked at my hat and activated the state again. Sure enough, the jokers were completely solid red and black, respectively. I undid the state and they changed back to normal. Weird. I shrugged, then went about getting ready for school. Fuckin' school.

* * *

After that was all done, I headed downstairs with Azren floating just behind my right shoulder. He's basicly like Navi from Legend of Zelda, only badass and not obnoxious.

_'Hey, listen!'_

OH YOU LITTLE PRICK, I'M GO- wait you said that in my head

_'Yeah, I'm still a part of you so we can have private head chats, sorta like Fuuka's brain connection thing.'_

Damn that's handy.

_'Eyup.'_

"Mornin'." I said as I approached the sofas where Junpei was sitting. I wonder if he got much sleep last night.

"Hey, mornin' R-" Junpei began, then he stopped once his head turned to look at me. "What the hell is that?"

I looked at Azren, then back at Junpei. "Him?" He nodded. "You can see him?"

_"It's because he has a Persona."_ Azren explained. _"Or that seems most likely. Let's test that theory."_ he whistled. _"Hey, Koromaru!"_

The dog looked up right at Azren and cocked his head.

"Well I'll be damned." I said. "Koro can see him as well."

"But, what is he…?" Junpei asked.

"My Persona." I replied. "Give ya the full explanation later, okay? I don't wanna repeat myself and if I'm right, everyone else is gonna want to know what his deal is. Plus, ya know, we have to head to school in like…" I looked at my watch. "An hour and I dunno how long this explanation might take." I set my bag down on the sofa and spun on my heels. "And besides that, I'm fucking hungry." I started towards the kitchen. "Need food."

* * *

As expected, Fuuka, Aki, Hamuko and Yukari could see Azren. Ken probably can as well, but we left for school before he was up so I'll have to wait till later. Same for Aigis and Mitsuru, as they're not even at the dorm. There was a huge silence over the group the entire way, even as Azren floated around and tried to mess with them. Turns out he can phase through solid objects, but can't interact with people who don't have Personae. Normal people can't see him either, but that also means he can relentlessly pester Junpei. Or, like I predict he will, try to torment Yukari. I also finally got a look at his hands, and they look like the claws, except grey and black instead of red and black and not glowy or quite as sharp.

The whole school knew about Takeharu's death, which was only moderately surprising. He was head of the company that freaking owns this school and he suddenly died. The cover story for his untimely demise is illness, but that's a load of bullshit. Not like anyone would believe that he actually died by taking a bullet for me while I was being held by a robot. I like the story they did for Ikutsuki, though. Officially, he fell off the observatory, died, and was cremated as per his own instructions in a will or something. That's actually pretty much what happened, except I also shot him in the head with the gun that killed Takeharu.

We all tried our best to act semi normal that day, and I got a text at lunch from Aki. We're meeting up in the command room after school to talk about important stuff. And once school was over, we all headed straight back. Koromaru was in serious mode as he joined us in heading upstairs. I gave him a good scratch on the head for his feats of badassery the past couple days, what with lopping the Arcana Hanged Man's head off and then Hoisting Ikutsuki by his own Petard to save everybody last night. Because, ya know, it was Pricktsuki's idea to have Koromaru on the team.

The irony is _DELICIOUS_.

The entire room was silent as we all sat down. Aki's sitting in what used to be Ikutsuki's chair. Hamuko, Fuuka, and Yukari are on the sofa, and the rest of us guys are on the stools with me between Junpei and Ken.

"The Chairman's room has been cleared out…" Fuuka began slowly.

Akihiko scoffed. "Well, that's no surprise, considering what he did."

Yukari sighed. "I just can't believe all this…"

"It's in the papers, too." noted Ken. "'Sudden Dead of Kirijo Group's CEO'. They blame it on illness, though."

"Yeah…" Aki frowned bitterly. "It's never the truth."

"Mitsuru-senpai's not here, huh…?"

"She's an only child, so there's a lot of matters to be settled, including the funeral and the family business." He explained to Junpei. "I'm sure she'll be busy for at least a week."

"That sounds rough…" winced Yukari. "I hope she'll be okay…"

"So, what're we supposed to do now…?" Junpei asked, then his eyes widened in panic. "What'll happen to Chidori?"

Hamuko's eyes widened as well. "And Shinjiro! What's going to happen to him?"

Aki twitched at the mention of his comatose friend. "No word yet. They're probably too busy to be thinking about that. In fact, the entire Kirijo Group must be in a state of shock."

Fuuka looked down at her feet. "I hope Aigis is alright…"

"So do I…" I sighed. She went with Mitsuru to get some Kirijo tech dudes to get rid of whatever Ikutsuki put into her head to make her fight us.

"What the hell…?" grumbled Junpei. "Am I just supposed to wait for them to get their act together?"

"It's big business, dude." I said. "Takes a while to get stuff done in a crisis."

"Yeah." Aki agreed. "Mitsuru's meeting with the Board of Directors, so that'd explain the delay."

"I see…" murmured Yukari. "But still, what are we going to do?" She looked at all of us. "We have no idea how to get rid of the Dark Hour… We don't even know what we're fighting against."

"What was that he said about 'the Fall'?" Ken asked. "What would've happened if we had been sacrificed?"

Wait what? "The hell are you talking about?"

"It was after Aigis punched you, Roy-kun." Hamuko explained. "Ikutsuki said that destroying those Full Moon Shadows like the one on the bridge caused them to merge and now something called 'Death' is going to show up to bring about the Fall."

"And he doctored the tape of Yuka-tan's dad…" Junpei spat.

"Bastard." I snarled. So glad I killed him.

"There are so many unanswered questions…" sighed Fuuka.

"Yeah…" agreed Junpei. "But standin' around here won't solve anything, right?"

Aki nodded. "True. But, there is one thing we know…" We all looked at him. "Tartarus is still around and there's a bunch of Shadows inside it. We should train, so we're ready for whatever it is we might have to face."

We all nodded in agreement.

"And, Roy-kun?"

I looked over at Hamuko. "Yeah?"

"What's his deal?" She asked, pointing at Azren, who's been floating next to my head the entire time.

"Oh, right…" I sighed. "I promised you guys an explanation…"

_"Allow me."_ said Azren, floating over and landing on the table. _"To make things simple, I'm like the personae you guys have when it comes to Roy. I'm the true facet of his soul, not stuff pulled from the collective unconscious mind of humankind like his other Personae are."_

Eyebrow. "Then what the hell does that make Orpheus? As far as looks go, he looks more like everyone else's Personae then you do."

_"He's a fragment."_ He replied. _"Likely split off the night your parents died, Roy. It was so psychologically jarring for you that it literally broke part of me off."_

I blinked. "That's heavy…"

Azren nodded. _"Yeah. But, it's all good now and stuff so don't sweat it."_

"Okay, but why can you appear like that?" Fuuka asked.

_"It'll come in time for the rest of you guys."_ He responded. "_Roy's just more naturally attuned to me then you guys are to your personae, which lets me manifest myself. You guys'll get to do this eventually as well, sorta like how those who've got Resolved Personae get to hear their Persona in their heads. It just takes a little longer is all." _Azren sighed. _"Sometimes being special sucks, dunnit, Roy?"_

"Mmhm." I agreed. "Totally overrated."

"Hey, I just remembered…" Ken spoke up. "What happened to you while you were fighting Ikutsuki-san?"

"Oh, this?" I asked, tripping the Joker State. _"It's just the claws, except expanded to affect more of me." _I went back to normal. "Azren's tricks are more powerful then the ones he could use as Shade."

_"Damn straight they are." _He boasted. _"But let's not have that go to our heads or we're going to get stomped on. A lot."_

"Yeah." I agreed.

Aki let out a yawn, then stood up. "Alright, I'm going to get some sleep. I don't feel up for Tartarus right now…"

"Yeah, same here…" Junpei agreed with a yawn of his own, standing up and following Aki out of the room. Hamuko, Ken, and Koro were the next ones to start out with me and Azren just behind them. I heard Fuuka stop Yukari to talk about something behind me, and waited outside the command room.

Yukari came out first, clutching a CD case. She didn't even notice me and hurried down the stairs, then Fuuka stepped out and stopped when she spotted me.

"Roy-kun?"

"We need to talk." I told her. "But not here."

* * *

We were already a couple blocks away from the dorm before Fuuka spoke up.

"Um, Roy-kun, where are we going?"

"Tartarus."

She stopped in her tracks. "What? But, we can't! Mitsuru-senpai said-"

"That she and Aki have to come with us, right?" I finished, stopping to look back at her. "Well, there's a problem with that. Senpai's not here and Akihiko's not exactly in the best frame of mind right now. Junpei and the others aren't in any shape to be watching my back, either. You, on the other hand, have your head on straight enough to keep me out of trouble." I turned my head away. "Besides, there's something I've gotta take care of and it's easier if only you come along."

"Something to take care of…?"

"With the Dark Hour still around, we're going to keep training in Tartarus." I stated. "Problem with that, though. The Reaper. He wants his fight, and the last time we saw him was when he said he'd only postpone our showdown once. And yes-" I began, cutting her off before she could say anything. "-I do plan on fighting him alone, because if you remember, he wants to fight ME. Not the rest of SEES, just me. And with things the way they are at the moment, this is probably the best time to get it done."

"Are you sure about this…?" Fuuka asked worriedly. "You said yourself, if you fight the Reaper…"

"Then the only things that'd happen would be I stomp him into the dirt or he doest that to me." I said. "But it's a risk I'm gonna have to take, otherwise who knows what the Reaper will do. He could very well just start outright killing all of us the moment we set foot inside Tartarus." I laughed a little. "Plus I gotta thank him."

"Thank him?"

I looked at her. "Who do you think blasted me off that cross I was strapped to?"

* * *

Okay, this is actually surprising. The Reaper's not hangin' out in the lobby of Tartarus waiting for me like I was expecting.

**'So you've come!'** There he is. Or at least his voice. **'For a moment, I wondered if I had to hunt you down personally.'**

"Yeah, sorry about that." I replied, pulling out my inventory cards to take a look at what the hell I had one me. "Things got rather crazy. Thanks for the save earlier, by the way."

**'Your life was in peril and we have yet to have our duel.'**

"I know. Why do you think I'm here?" What the hell, why do I have Gae Bolg in here?

_'Ken gave it back after the Hanged Man fight, remember? He said he didn't know how to get rid of it so he wanted you to do it.'_

Oh yeah, that's right. "So, Reaper, we're fighting up on that one place, right?"

**'That is correct. Make haste, I shall not wait forever.'**

"Noted." I replied, pulling Gae Bolg out of its card. I feel like giving spears a try for some reason. "C'mon Fuuka. We're going up."

"Huh?"

"I'm not leaving you down here by yourself." I told her, handing her a Megido card. "Just use this if the Shadows start getting too close, okay?"

She hesitantly took the card, then nodded. "Okay."

Let's rock.

* * *

Okay, fuck Tartarus. This place hates us today or something. Or maybe the Reaper is just screwing with me for giggles or out of spite for avoiding him for like, two weeks.

We're not just cutting' up Shadows, FUCK NO. We're WADING through these suckers. I wouldn't mind as much if it was just the usual kinds of Shadows, but it's not. No, there's variants of those trooper bastards the Hanged Man summoned. They're apparently like Mayas in that they can come from any Arcana, the main difference is these ones are far more dangerous then those stupid little blobs. Mainly in that they're more durable and rarely come in groups smaller then four, and frequently with each member of said group is a different Arcana. And the fucking Hermit ones throw grenades that cause poison and crap a lot, the pricks.

"Persona!" I shouted, crushing the cards for Azren and Melchizdek to unleash dual Akasha Arts on several groups of Troopers mixed in with the regular groups of Shadows from this block. There's like, three times as many Shadows on this god damn floor, but thankfully I'm at least managing to rip these bitches apart. Sorta. "God damn it… Fuuka, any sign of the stairs?"

_{Almost…}_ She responded. There's be so god damn many Shadows I've got her standing at the back of a dead end scanning for the stairs while I thin these bastards out. _{…I found them! They're down the hall to your left at the very end!}_

"Alright!" I yelled as I used Garu channeling to blow a Shadow's head off with the bottle of Soma I just emptied. "I'm gonna see about blasting these guys, then you make a break for it! I'll be right behind you!"

"Alright!" Fuuka replied as she dispelled Juno, then carefully approached.

"Daisoujou!" I hollered, stabbing the card with Gae Bolg while at the same time putting a hole in a Justice Trooper's head. The mummified monk appeared and unleashed the cleansing light of Samsara to obliterate the Shadows in our way. "Fuuka, now!"

She darted past me, then a couple seconds later I took off after her. She got to the stair room first, and turned around. She seemed relieved, then her eyes widened and she pointed behind me. "Roy-kun! Look out!"

Wait, wha- GAH!

"Roy-kun!"

"I'll be fine!" I grunted, staggering back up. Something just fucking threw lightning at me… I looked back in time to see a Strength Trooper's fist before he punched me in the jaw, knocking me down again. Judging from the footsteps I'm hearing, he's got friends. Probably an Emperor Trooper among 'em. I rolled to one side to avoid a stomp that was probably intended to crush my head and Garu-flipped to my feet and looked for Gae Bolg quickly. Or I tried to, but a Chariot Trooper was in my face right away so I had to duck under its haymaker and dart around him, snatching the spear off the ground. Unfortunately, now the Strength and Chariot Troopers are between me and Fuuka. And there's more behind me.

_ZRRT_-_**THOOM**_

And one is an Emperor judging from the Ziodyne I just absorbed. Thanks, Odin. Switch again to Alice and turn to kick a Fortune Trooper in the face while simultaneously smashing her card to let loose with a Die for Me so as to wipe out most of the ones in the back and son of a bitch I just got hit in the face with something!

Oww… what the hell… Okay, Azren time… Oh shit I can't summon his card! Oh SHIT I can't summon ANY cards! EVEN MORE SHIT I CAN'T CHANNEL!

_{Roy-kun, calm down!}_ Fuuka shouted in my head. _{Just use a Patra Gem!}_

"WOULD IF I COULD!" I yelled, flipping the fuck out as I tried desperately to fend off the attacking Shadows. Oh god oh god oh god I'm gonna die I can't do shit and I'm gonna die! SHIT THEY GOT MY SPEAR- GAH FUCK MY LEG! BASTARD FUCKING SHOT ME IN THE LEG WITH GOD DAMN ICE FUCK I CAN'T MOVE N- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" **FUCK THAT WAS MY ARM! SON OF A BITCH!**

"ROY-KUN!"

Oh god what the is that light it cannot… wait, is that-

BA-**DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**

* * *

I blinked. All the Shadows are gone. And I mean GONE. I can't even see the lingering traces of the black mist they evaporate into.

"Roy-kun!"

I looked over and Fuuka was bounding towards me, the Megido card I gave her in her hand and glowing slightly.

"Fuuka…?" I asked uncertainly. "What… just happened…?"

"You were panicking, and the shadows started ganging up on you…" Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "And then you screamed, and then I… used the card you gave me…"

I blinked. "You used it…? Wait, so YOU killed the Shadows?"

She nodded slowly. "I… I think so… I can't sense any more on this floor at all…"

"Wait, what? You wiped out all the Shadows on the floor?"

"I think so…"

I looked down th- "HOLY SHIT FUUKA, YOU BLEW A HOLE IN TARTARUS!"

"Huh?" She looked down the hall as well. "Wh-What the…?"

"That…" I stammered. "Is amazing… but… how?"

"Um…" Fuuka blinked. "Juno says it's Oracle."

Eyebrow. "Oracle…? Isn't that the one move you can use that nobody can figure out how the hell it works so we've been kind of avoiding finding out since you got it?"

She nodded. "Juno says it's been augmenting these cards when I channel with them so they're more powerful."

I whistled. "Damn, that's cool." I casually picked Gae Bolg up off the ground. "Welp, let's get going."

* * *

Thankfully the Trooper Shadows seem to have become massively paranoid of Fuuka nuking the hell out of them again, so they've just been sticking to assisting the other shadows in attacking us. Tore through them and finally got up to the 'arena' where, as expected, the Reaper was waiting.

**'You have arrived.' **He noted.

"Yeah, no thanks to the damn tower." I griped. "How long those shadows been in here?"

**'They began appearing recently. And I did not send them to combat you, they did that of their own volition.'**

"Huh." I activated the Joker State and took a few steps towards the Reaper. _"Well, it's a good thing I asked Fuuka to come along then."_

**'She will not be taking part in our battle.'** Said the Reaper firmly.

_"That was the plan to begin with."_ I told him. _"Hey, Fuuka, you might wanna get back. And once you've got Juno up to protect yourself, can you start playin' some music please?"_

"I will." She replied uneasily before I heard footsteps backing away, then the sound of her evoking Juno. _{What song would you like?}_

I shrugged. _"Any song's good, really…"_ I thought for a second. _"Actually, you got 'I'll Face Myself -Battle-'?"_

_{Would you like to listen to that one?}_ She asked.

_"That I would."_ I replied, then the song began playing. I blame Junpei for introducing to Shoji Meguro and his awesome muzak skills. _"Thanks. You ready, Reaper?"_

**'Indeed.'** he tightened his grip on his revolvers. **'Let us begin.'**

_"Then throw down!"_ I shouted, crushing a Cadenza gem in my hand for Wesker-Fu before charging at the Reaper. He clearly wasn't expecting me to be that fast, so I managed to slash him across the chest with Gae Bolg before summoning Azren to smash him in the face with Chain Hit, then bolted before he could retaliate.

He started shooting up the place like crazy, Dyne-level spells flying every which way as I dodged most of them. Even with Wesker-Fu, which Azren's managed to am up in terms of speed and overall duration, I still ran straight into some of his attacks. It sucks, but that's what Diarahan is for. Now then, switch in Atropos, channel mind charge, then _"PERSONA!" _Summon her and Azren for double Mind Charged Garudynes straight into his FACE. Wow, that actually looked like it hurt him a hell of a lot. Damn.

**'Impressive…' **commented the Reaper, shaking his head lightly as if to get out of a daze. **'But I do hope that was not your best shot, human.'**

I grinned. _"Hell no it wasn't."_ Quick Mind Charge, switch to Odin. _"I've got better."_

**'Then show me!'** He bellowed, firing Megidolaon lasers at me. I dodged, then pulled Mjolnir out of its card, which means I'm now dual wielding the Hammer of the Norse god of Thunder with the Legendary Spear of an Irish Hero. It's actually easier then I was expecting.

But enough about that! _"GET READY TO FEEL THE THUNDAH!"_ Smash Odin's card with Mjolnir for a Thunder Reign, then rush the Reaper while he's reeling from the attack and start smashing and stabbing before he can react, dodge the attempted Pistol whip, the- _"OOOF!"_

I bounced along the ground, then slid to a stop and stood up, looking at the Reaper. _"Did… Did you just kick me? HOW DID YOU KICK ME? **YOU HAVE NO LEGS!**"_

The Reaper looked down at where his legs should be, then back up at me. He shrugged.

I started to say something, then just sighed and shook my head. _"Fuck it."_ I slashed Azren's card with Gae Bolg and smashed Odin's with Mjolnir. _"PERSONA!"_

Lightning and Wind surged through our battlefield, creating a storming maelstrom of pain that also made some pretty colors that partly obscured the Megidola the Reaper fired off. Must've been Mind Charged, because it hurt like a bitch. I switched to Daisoujou for a Diarahan, then put my weapons back into their cards in my pockets. Yes, dual wielding a spear and hammer is cool, but it's kinda hard to fight properly. I crushed another Cadenza for more Wesker-Fu, then darted around the Reaper's attacks before I grabbed his arm and punched him in the face, then rebounded off his chest, Azren's card spinning in my hand. I crushed it, then he appeared and punched the ground, sending a blast wave of black and red energy around our battlefield, and even managed to critically impact the Reaper. I didn't know almighty skills could do that.

_'Normally they can't, but Wild Card is a PHYSICAL-type Almighty skill. Physical can go critical, obviously.'_

Sweet. And hey, I just remembered something.

_'What?'_

The evoker laser mod!

_'Oh yeah. Good thing you brought your evoker out of habit, huh?'_

Eyup. Now let's give this thing a try!

I pulled my evoker from its holster and the familiar dark red energy formed around it the top of it, changing its appearance to a more menacing handgun before I pulled the trigger, firing a blast of black-red energy at the Reaper. He wasn't expecting it, and got hit in the shoulder by it. I kept firing, and eventually he dodged and fired back with a Megidolaon. However, this gave me another idea because he fired it like a bullet. I tried using Garu channeling to grab it and fire it back at him, but it ended up blowing up one of the random pillars around the battlefield instead.

He didn't take kindly to that, and started laying it on with the gunfire. Megidolaons and my own Wild Card blasts flew back and forth between us as I tried to keep Wesker-ing around his attacks, but failed quite often. Damn it, I'm running out of Diarahans at this rate…

_'Try Spirit Draining him. He's got plenty to spare from the looks of things.'_

THIS IS TRUE. Okay, new thing of Cadenza Wesker-Fu, switch to Alice, then get behind him and jump onto his back, then start channeling Spirit Drain like nobody's business. Fun thing about that skill, it gets you back three times the amount of energy it costs, so I'm practically sponging the hell out of the Reaper as he thrashes about trying to- OKAY JUMPING OFF BEFORE HE BLOWS MY HEAD OFF! I darted around quickly, evading most of his attacks before hurling a Megido card-bomb at his head.

That dazed him enough for me to start running around him quickly, chucking various cards at his head as I duplicated them quickly. Megido, Agilao, Mabufula, Zio, if I had it and I could make a bomb out of it, I threw it at him. Unfortunately, my Cadenza started wearing down so I ran straight into a Megidolaon explosion and got blown into a pillar for my trouble.

I rolled out of the way before another Megidolaon blasted apart that pillar, then Cadenza'd up again to recover and get moving before I got hit with a Bufudyne. I'm SO glad I'm fast as hell or I'd be a crater right now. I did decided to play sneaky and started running up at him and punching while channeling Spirit Drain at the same time, so I'd recover energy as I beat the hell out of him. Of course, this pissed him off and he started firing rapidly with his revolvers as a Myriad Arrows came in outta nowhere, knocking me flat on my ass. He followed up with another Megidolaon, and I managed to brace myself before it hit to lessen the damage. Can't take another one of those, so I bolted away before two more impacted where I was laying and healed myself again. Methinks it's time for some other fun stuff.

I slipped two Fusion Spell gems out of my sleeves and into my hands. I glanced at them. Sort of a dull orange-red with a glowing saw blade symbol in them. Fun times. I crushed both, then slammed my hands into the ground, unleashing the fury of dual Scarlet Havocs, calling forth an insane storm of slicing death upon the Reaper. I took out another two gems, these ones navy blue in color with a howling wolf's head symbol in them. I smashed them together, then charged at the Reaper and unleashed the dual Shadow Hounds right into his torso. The resulting impact sent us both flying away from each other and thoroughly caused me to regret doing that despite how effect and awesome it probably was.

**'Most impressive!' **The Reaper barked, sounding oddly smug while still in pain before he took aim at me with both his revolvers and fired two Megidolaon blasts at me. I quickly pulled Gae Bolg out, caught both the blasts with Garu channeling, then fired them right back at the Reaper.

Taking advantage of the fact he just got double headshotted by HIS OWN ATTACK and that it's got him staggering about a little because I think one hit him right in the eye, I switched to Odin and pulled out Mjolnir as well and channeled Garu and Zio into Gae Bolg, causing the spear to levitate infront of me as it began crackling with energy and spiraling rapidly.

_'Are you doing what I think you're doing?'_

If you think I'm making a railgun using Gae Bolg, Mjolnir, and Garu and Zio skill channeling, then yes. Yes I am.

_'Switch in Atropos for a mind charge real quick then.'_

Oh, good idea.

I did so, then went back to Odin and HOT DAMN this thing's really goin' now. Time to launch this sucker. _"HEY REAPER!"_

The Master of Tartarus looked in my direction as I held Mjolnir like a bat.

_"HERE'S MY BEST SHOT!"_ I roared, smashing the thunder god's hammer into the back of the spear.

_CRA-**THOOM**_

The result of the Gae Bolg-Mjolnir Railgun experiment? The Reaper is now missing half of his torso and his entire left arm. And somehow I didn't blow a hole in Tartarus, because the Gae Bolg is lodged in a crater in the wall. And god damn, that took a lot out of me… Then again, I kinda over-charged the thing because there is no kill like overkill.

I breathed heavily as the Reaper tried to stagger-slash-float towards me, then he disolved into that all-too-familiar black and red mist. I blinked. Did I beat him?

**'Well played, human.'** Boomed the Reaper's voice. **'I concede defeat.'**

…I beat him. I actually fucking beat the Reaper.

I flopped down onto the ground and sighed wearily, turning off the Joker State. God damn, that was a pain…

"Roy-kun!"

I glanced over at Fuuka as she ran over to me and smiled.

"I can't believe it…" She said, helping me up. "You beat the Reaper…"

I laughed tiredly. "Yeah, but he's not dead." I looked towards the crater Gae Bolg was stuck in. "Right?"

**'No, but it will be some time before I am able to take form again.'**

"Thought so." I sighed. "So, why'd you wanna fight anyways? Can't just be because you were bored."

The Reaper's laugh echoed through the area. **'Very perceptive. While yes, my own lack of interesting tasks contributed to it, there were several other factors.'**

"Such as?"

**'I have existed for some time, long before humans could enter this place. I have seen others with the power you and your allies wield, and sought them out for battle.'** Began the Master of Tartarus. **'I would appear before them, and they would flee. I would pursue them, and eventually they would seek me out merely to attempt to destroy me.'**

"The predator sought prey, but the prey turned predator against the one who sought to prey upon it?" I asked.

**'Indeed.'** was his response. **'There was no… substance to our fights. They simply ran until they could face me and win. You, however, were different. In our early encounters, you spoke with me as you would another human. Granted, I cannot say I comprehend human motivations, but you did not fear me as much as those in the past did. And with your Shadow awakened within you, I saw an opportunity.'**

Eyebrow. "An opportunity?"

**'I sought a worthy opponent. When I encountered you, I saw the potential for a truly grand battle for once in my existence.'** He stated. **'So I set you upon the path to accept your Shadow.'**

"Accept his Shadow…?" Fuuka murmured, sounding confused for a moment before her eyes lit up and she looked at me. "You mean Shade?"

"Shade wasn't a Persona. He was my Shadow; all the dark, negative thoughts I repressed." I told her. "But, because I still accepted those thoughts as part of me while still repressing them, he was willing to help." I crushed Azren's card to summon him. "That about right?"

Azren nodded. _"Pretty much. Then once everyone started getting suited up to head to Tartarus before Ikutsuki revealed his true colors, what little acceptance of me he had disappeared. Naturally, I didn't like that very much. Once Aigis knocked him out, I took action." _He seemed to smile, but due to him not having a visible mouth it's kind of hard to tell. _"He managed to come to terms with all his problems and the result was me. And now you know why Personae are need to beat Shadows; they're basicly the same thing, Shadows are just wild and uncontrolled while Personas are in tune with the people who wield them."_

"So, why help me face myself?" I asked as Azren vanished. "You just wanted a good brawl?"

**'That is indeed the case.'** the Reaper admitted. **'I have spent ages without a true opponent I felt worthy to face on the field of battle. As of today, I have found such an opponent and been defeated in single combat. It is a satisfying feeling, and I thank you, human.**'

I laughed tiredly again. "Glad I could help, Reaper."

The Reaper chuckled. **'You truly are a Wild Card. Before you leave, I have a gift for you.'**

A small skull keychain with a pair of revolvers crossed behind the skull appeared in my hand, along with a bloody button.

**'It is proof that you have earned my respect, and may call upon my aid should the need ever arise.'**

"Or just call you up to have another showdown, right?" I grinned, tucking the items into my pocket.

**'Indeed.' **He replied with a chuckle. **'Farewell for now, human. I require rest.'**

"Later days, Reaper." I said, saluting before I used what little energy I had left to Garu-channel Gae Bolg out of the wall and back into my hand. I put the legendary spear and Mjolnir away, then sighed wearily and looked at Fuuka with a tired smile. "Let's go home."

She smiled back and nodded, then we headed for the access point.

* * *

We got back to the dorm shortly after the Dark Hour ended, then opened the do- "Where were you two!"

God damn it Yukari don't yell in my face like please I've got a headache. "Out."

And now she looks kinda angry. "Out where? And what were you doing?"

Wait a second. "Wait, why the hell are you guys still awake? I thought you went to bed."

"Didn't you hear that explosion, Roy-san?" Ken asked. "It came from Tartarus."

_"Holy shit, you guys heard that all the way back here?"_ whistled Azren. _"Damn, Fuuka. How powerful WAS that blast?"_

"That as YOU?" Hamuko sputtered incredulously.

I shook my head. "No, that was Fuuka. Apparently that Oracle skill of hers is like a nuke waiting to happen."

Jaws dropped and everyone there looked at Fuuka in awe. Akihiko was the first to recover.

"What were you doing at Tartarus, anyways?" He asked, moderately angry. "You could've be-"

"I beat the Reaper."

That stopped him. And got everyone to look at me.

"Y-You did what?" stammered Junpei.

"I beat the Reaper." I repeated, holding up the bloody button. "And this here is proof."

There was a long silence, then Yukari spoke up.

"Were you insane?" She demanded. "You could've died!"

"But I didn't." I countered. "And that's the important part. And don't start with the 'you shouldn't have fought him alone' crap because he WANTED to fight me solo, and that was the only way he was gonna let it go down. Granted, I'd have probably died on the way to the spot he wanted to fight me at if I hadn't gotten Fuuka to come with me, but that's not the main point." I folded my arms. "We were gonna have to go back to Tartarus eventually, and the Reaper would've been after me. He could very well have just killed all of you and then attacked me the moment we entered the tower, and I didn't want that to happen. So I challenged him alone." I grinned, pulling out Gae Bolg's card. "And I blew his freaking torso in half in addition to vaporizing his left arm." I handed the card back to Ken. "I forgot you gave it to me. Saved my ass, and makes a good railgun bullet."

Ken looked at the card with wide eyes, then back up at me. I looked at the others. They were likewise impressed.

I sighed tiredly, but kept smiling. "Don't worry, I'm probably not gonna try that again. If I do, though, I'll let you guys know so you can bring popcorn and watch."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

"Now, if you'll excuse me…" I yawned. "I just used a combination of extreme Wesker-Fu and a fucking Railgun to blow apart the primordial manifestation of Death and need sleep…" I staggered past the others and towards the stairs. "G'night guys…"

* * *

I was out as soon as I was in my pajamas and my head hit the pillow. And then I found myself going quickly along a familiar checkerboard path towards a blue door.

"Welcome."

"Hey Igor." I greeted casually, plopping down in my chair. "I'm dreaming right now, right?"

"Indeed you are." He stated. "Now then… there has been a change in you recently. Have you noticed? And I am not referring to your change in circumstances. I am referring to the change in your mentality."

I smiled wearily. "The Tower Social Link."

Igor chuckled. "That is correct. You are the only guest I've ever seen who has established a Social Link with themself." His expression turned more serious. "And this change in you that it has brought about is the reason I have summoned you here tonight. Going forward, there is one thing you mustn't forget."

He waved his hand over the table, and the contract Pharos got me to sign appeared.

"I see you recognize it… Shall I remind you of your commitment?"

"I chooseth this fate of mine own free will." I stated. "It was true when this whole thing started, and it still holds true now."

Igor's grin returned quickly. "I am glad to hear that. Whichever path you choose, I shall respect your decision. However, only you will bear the responsibility for your actions… no matter what end they may bring about. Please remember that."

I nodded sharply. "I will, Igor."

"Good." He nodded back. "Well then, I bid you farewell."

* * *

Next morning, I think everyone was doing a little better. I know Yukari probably was at least, as her Persona resolved from Io into Isis last night, probably before I got back from Tartarus with Fuuka so I don't know exactly how that went down with her.

Fuuka stopped me at lunch in the hallway to talk about something.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Aigis is going to be coming back to the dorm tonight." She told me. "Mitsuru sent me a message and asked me to pass it on to everyone else. It sounds like they fixed whatever made her try to fight against us, but…" Her gaze shifted away from me. "I think it might hurt her to be back at the dorm and see us…" She looked back at me. "Can you please forgive her, Roy-kun?"

"Of course I can." I replied. I'm glad she's okay…

Fuuka's expression brightened. "Oh, thank you. I knew you would."

I grinned. "You just know me really well is all."

_"Nah, you're kind of easy to figure out, Roy." _Azren commented from his position floating off to my right. _"Especially once people've gotten inside your head."_

Fuuka giggled. "Well, I had some help with that."

I sighed. "That you did, Fuuka. That you did."

* * *

I headed straight back to the dorm after school, but there was nobody in the lounge when I got there. Fair enough, I think Yukari has Archery Club practice today and everybody else just isn't back yet. Ken might've been by, but seeing that him 'n Koromaru aren't here, they probably went for a walk.

"Roy-san?"

I looked over at the stairs and Aigis was standing on the steps leading up to the second floor, looking at me. I could tell she was nervous even from my position near the front door.

"Hey Aigis." I replied, smiling as I approached her. "Feeling better?" She looked away from me as I got closer. "Aigis?"

She still wasn't looking at me.

"Aigis, what's wrong?" I asked, setting my school bag down at the base of the stairs. She still refused to look at me, and now I can see she's shivering… kind of like a little kid scared of their parents yelling at them. I sighed quietly, then slowly held out my hand. She flinched and closed her eyes, like she expected me to hit her.

"Aigis." I said gently, still holding out my hand. She cautiously opened her eyes and slowly turned her head to look at me. "C'mon. Let's sit down."

She blinked, clearly surprised by my actions. Hesitantly, she took my hand. I smiled, then led her over to one of the sofas in the lounge and sat down with her. She didn't face me, instead staring intently at her knees with her hands on her lap. She still looked like she was scared of me. I sighed again.

"Aigis, talk to me." I pleaded. "I want to know what's bothering you."

She tilted her head downwards. "I…"

The next words out of her mouth was likely a hybrid explanation and apology for… something, but she said it so fast and somehow in three languages, at least one I recognized as Japanese, so I barely understood what the hell she was saying. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she went silent instantly and looked at me. Her expression said she was about ready to cry.

"Aigis…" I began carefully. "Calm down. I'm not angry with you, so just slow down, and say that again, please."

She nodded cautiously, then took a deep breath, held it for a second, then exhaled.

"I… want to apologize for what occurred that night…" Aigis began. "I am truly sorry… Even though he took control of me, I cannot believe I did such a thing to you…" she cast her eyes downward towards the floor. "Can you ever forgive me…?"

I smiled at her again, then pulled her into a hug. "I was never mad at you in the first place, Aigis."

She was stock still for a moment, then I felt her arms wrap around me as she pulled herself closer. I tightened my own grip on her, and we stayed like that in silence.

**BAM**

For about five seconds, when suddenly the front door flew open, startling as us both and causing Aigis to pull away. GOD **DAMN IT** YU- Wait, it's Junpei… and he looks kinda mad. He didn't even look over at the sofa, he just slammed the door behind him, stalked over to the stairs, then went up to his room.

Well, that certainly killed the mood. I sighed, then looked back at Aigis. She had her head facing away from me… Wait, is she blushing? I think she's blushing… Eh, think about it later.

I sighed to myself again and shifted my position so I was staring at the wall behind the other sofa. Gotta wonder what we're all gonna be doing now. As it stands, we've got no idea how to get rid of the Dark Hour and all we have to work with is a huge fucking tower full of monsters that may or may not have the answers we're looking for in it.

'So… basicly we have no way of knowing we're on the right track or not.'

Pretty much. And there's no word on what's gonna happen to Aigis, either…

"Roy-san?"

That snapped me from my thoughts quickly as my head automatically turned to face her. "Yes, Aigis?"

She fidgeted in her seat for a moment, then she quickly turned around and wait what she just kissed me oh my god what is this I don't even

"Good night…" She said once she pulled back, then quickly darted off and up the stairs.

I just sat there in silence for a little while.

Did… Did that really just happen? I mean, I'm not dreaming… Am I?

_'No, you're wide awake, dude. That just happened.'_

How are you not having a mental breakdown because of this.

_'That would be redundant.'_

Oh yeah it would, huh?

"Roy-san?"

"GAH!" I jumped and damn near fell off the sofa, whipping my head around to see Ken and Koromaru staring at me from near the front door. "Oh, uh, hey Ken…"

"Are you alright, Roy-san?" He asked. "You were just staring off into space…"

Oh crap I think I blue screened "Uh, yeah… I'm fine…" I looked at my wa- "Holy hell I've been sitting here for damn near an hour what the crap!"

Koromaru whimpered. I looked over at him and he seemed concerned. So did Ken.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ken asked uneasily.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I commented dismissively. "I just got lost in thought is all…" I stood up. "I'm gonna turn in early tonight… See you in the morning."

"Okay." replied Ken with a short nod. "Good night, Roy-san."

"G'night…" I said, heading over to the stairs and grabbing my bag before I headed up to my room. I closed the door and sighed contently.

_'Still on cloud nine after that smooch?'_

Do you really have to ask? You're me, so you should know the answer.

_'I do, but I want to hear you say it.'_

Alright, fine. I am still on an emotional high. I mean… the girl I'm in love with kissed me.

_'Methinks you're going to sleep well tonight.'_

Probably.

* * *

Author Notes - Roy, you lucky bastard. AND HEY! He whomped the Reaper! WITH A RAILGUN MADE FROM A SPEAR AND A HAMMER. And yes, Azren manifesting as a 1ft tall version of himself outside the Dark Hour was partly inspired by Kisdota the Gamer Freak's 'Split Personalities' story. I actually don't like the story all that much, mainly because it's kind of hard for me to read it without getting a massive headache trying to decipher the way he wrote it, but I do find the concept to be completely awesome. That said, it's still a pretty good story if you can overlook the somewhat bad writing, but hey, the guy's trying and I respect that. And yes, this does mean that the Persona 4 crew is going to have the same thing going with their Personae in my P4 Story(that I'm still trying to think of a title for). Gotta keep things consistant between stories if they're set in the same universe, right? Anyways, the Fool Social Link event I put in this chapter DOES NOT EXIST in the original P3, Journey Mode in P3:FES, or in P3P. That was the rank 8 scene, which never actually occurs in game. It just goes from Rank 7(the party shortly before the Ikutsuki Event at Tartarus) to Rank 9(After the Chidori event on November 22nd). It's admittedly kind of strange, but a lot of Roy's social links have been strange.

Also, I appologize for taking so long in getting this chapter out(I got hit with writer's block a few times while working on this) but here's something fun for you all to think about that's only a minor spoiler about the next chapter: Ryoji is coming. Let your minds go crazy with the possibilities. Mwehehehehehe.


	42. An Introduction and a Farewell

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash **- Hahaha, Chibi Azren would be hilarious. And Yeah, I plan on drawing the Joker State and Azren sometime. Probably soon if I can get off my lazy ass and actually sketch stuff. :T

**Despair's Cold Edge** - I absolutely love you comparing that chapter to a slice of pumpkin pie, because pumpkin pie is freaking awesome. And yeah, it was crazy cold outside up here in Seattle this past week, wasn't it? I mean hell, we ACTUALLY GOT SNOW.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

And he's right, I DID sleep good. I woke up in like, the best mood EVER. I was all content and humming to myself as I got ready, then bounded down the stairs and hopped over the back counter and into the kitchen to get some breakfast.

I still have no idea why I like this brand of cereal so god damn much apart from the fact it is insanely yummy. Who the hell keeps buying it, anyways? Ah, figure it out later.

Junpei was still in a mood when he came down and was apparently moderately spiteful of my not-gloominess. He left for school sooner then I did, which almost felt like something that would cause a universe-rending paradox, but if that was the case hitting Gae Bolg with Mjolnir would've shattered reality into tiny pieces from how mind blowingly epic it was. Especially because I, ya know, blew off half the Reaper's upper body with that move.

That aside, Hamuko was the next one down and she noticed my sunny dispassion. She even joked I was happier then she usually is, then asked what was up. I just smiled and said I had a nice dream is all. Azren, thankfully, didn't do anything to jerkish when he suddenly popped in through a wall. He likes staying outside my head, but apparently can't during the Dark Hour.

"Good morning, Hamuko-san. Good morning, Roy-san."

I looked over from my spot on the sofa to see Aigis walking towards us with a semi-neutral expression, but I could tell she was smiling ever so slightly.

"Good morning!" chirped Hamuko.

"Morning Aigis." I waved.

_"Hey Aigis!"_ Azren chimed in, floating up to see her only to have her finger guns pointed at him a split second later. _"Umm…"_

"Whoa, Aigis, calm down!" I said quickly, hopping over the sofa to grab her by the arm. "That's just Shade!"

She looked at me slightly blankly.

"Well technically his name's Azren now and he's a Persona." I told her. "So just put your hand down, and I'll explain."

Aigis glanced at Azren, who was stock still in mid air, then she lowered her arm. "Very well."

Crisis averted, now to explain.

* * *

So I gave Aigis an explanation about Azren on the way to school, and she apologized for trying to shoot him. He didn't mind and honestly neither did I, so it was all good. Junpei was silently fuming/being depressed about something for the entire day up until lunch. I didn't find out if he was still disgruntled at that point, mainly because I left the room before he possibly berserked and started beating the shit out of people. That would've sucked.

I took refuge on the roof after practically sprinting through the halls, Azren floating lazily as he basicly laid down in mid-air.

_"Gotta wonder what's up with Junpei, huh?" _he asked. _"Dude looks about ready to choke a bitch."_

I know right? Think Chidori said-

"Roy-san?"

"BWAH!" I yelped, almost dropping my lunch. I looked over my shoulder and Chihiro was standing there. This is a surprise. "Oh, uh, hey Chihiro…"

"Is something wrong?" She asked. "You were in a big hurry…"

Crap I must've passed her in the hallway. "Nah, it's nothing too bad. I just wanted to have some fresh air while I eat, and I felt a headache due to lack of food coming on so I got up here quick to start eating."

_"Nice lie."_ commented Azren.

Be quiet, damn it. "So, uh, did you need something, Chihiro?"

She nodded. "I wanted to know if you were free after school. I have nothing else to do today, so I was going to ask you and Hidetoshi-san if you wanted to hang out at the mall for a while."

Wait, hold on, SHE'S asking if I want to hang out?

_"Something is wrong with the universe." _Azren said worriedly. _"I mean, sure she kinda grew out of her phobia, but she's still been super shy, right?"_

Yeah. This is really weird… ANYWAYS. "Yeah, I've got nothin' going on either. Want me to wait for you two at the shoe lockers?"

* * *

She agreed to that, so now I'm chilling at the lockers with Azren as the two of us goofed around with our awesome wind power. Also thought about possibly retiring some of the tricks we've got. Granted, the card bombs and evoker laser pistol are cool, but they're not exactly practical. Well, the card bombs kind of are, so I'm probably going to keep messing around with those as I figure out how to make them more useful or something.

"Yo, Roy!"

I looked over and, to my surprise, Kaz & Rio were walking towards me.

"Hey guys." I greeted back.

"Waiting for someone?" asked Rio.

"Yeah. A friend of mine from Student Council wanted to hang out, so I'm waitin' here for her to show up with the other guy she invited." I replied. "And don't you guys have practice today?"

Rio shook her head. "No, practice was cancelled today for some reason or another."

"I think Coach Yamato had a meeting he had to go to or something…" stated Kaz.

"Roy-san!"

I turned my head to look over at Chihiro, who was approaching with Hidetoshi.

"Hey Chihiro." I called back. "Hey Hidetoshi."

"Are you ready to go?" she asked. I nodded. "Then let's get going."

"Uh, hey…" Our attention quickly shifted to Kaz. "Is it okay with you guys if me and Rio tag along? With practice canceled today, we don't really have anything to do."

I looked at Chihiro, who seemed moderately surprised by the suggestion, then she smiled and nodded.

"Sure, you can come along, senpai."

"Sweet!" Kaz cheered. "So, where we headed?"

* * *

The answer to that question was the Mandragora karaoke place. We got a room and piled in.

"SO." I began, clapping my hands together, then rubbing them back and forth. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will!" Rio exclaimed, standing up quickly. She took a step, then stopped. "Wait, I just had an idea…" She turned around to look at Chihiro. "Why don't we sing a duet?"

"H-Huh?" Chihiro stammered. "B-But I…"

"No buts!" said Rio, grabbing Chihiro by the arm and pulling her up and over to the karaoke machine. She's pretty gung-ho about this, huh?

_"Yeah, but Rio's kind of gung-ho about damn near everything." _Azren commented.

Very, very true.

I sighed to myself and slumped a bit as I sat down. Rio and Chihiro started signing a song I didn't recognize, and I've gotta admit, they have good singing voices. I noticed Hide and Kaz watching intently, then sighed again.

Look at them all. Havin' fun like this. They don't even know about this whole Fall thing that could just swoop in and end everything. They're just carryin' on, same as always.

_"What's the deal with the Fall, anyways?"_ asked Azren, sitting down on the table. _"Did we even get a timeframe on that shit?"_

Don't think we did. I'll have to ask someone else about it. But, Hamuko said Ikutsuki mentioned 'Death', which is the next Arcana we would fight if we keep following the trend set by the Arcana Shadows we fought. And those bastards showed up on Full Moons, which means we've got until early December to figure out what the shit is going on.

_"Actually…"_ he began. _"I talked to Juno during class today using the brain link thing and asked her for a better synopsis of Prickutsuki's rant. She said that he called Death 'the almighty'."_

Almighty…? Like what, a fucking deity or something?

_"Possibly."_

Well shit. So we might be fighting something as primordial as the Reaper, only bigger. As much fun as it would be to punch out Cthulhu, there's always a chance I might break my arm doing it. And that would suck.

_"And, ya know, bring about the end of the world."_

That's what I was talking about.

"Hey Roy, you're up!"

"Wait huh?" I asked nobody in particular as I was violently pulled from my train of thought.

"You're up, dude." Kaz repeated, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the karaoke machine. "Weren't you paying attention?"

I shook my head. "Not really, sorry…"

Chihiro frowned slightly. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I just got a lot on my mind is all…" I replied dismissively.

She winced. "Is it because we haven't been able to hang out that much lately?"

Hidetoshi laughed a little. "I doubt that." he elbowed me slightly. "He knows how it goes, we've all got our own stuff going on and sometimes things come up we can't control."

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch upward. They really do care.

_"Well DUH."_ grunted Azren. _"That whole thing I said about them using you as an emotional crutch was just a paranoid delusion you didn't want to admit you were thinking about."_

Oh shut up, you.

* * *

A few hours and a lot of hilarious song choices later, we all split up and headed home. Junpei was sitting by himself at the table, constantly muttering to himself about something. I didn't want to risk pissing him off, though, so I left him be and just went to bed.

After I was dressed and stuff the next morning, I found Yukari, Fuuka, and Aigis hanging around the lounge on the second floor near the vending machines.

"What are we gonna do…?" griped Yukari. "Neither Tartarus nor the Dark Hour disappeared… Our only reason for fighting is gone…" She shook her head quickly and growled in frustration. "Argh! This is pissing me off! Damn you, Ikutsuki!"

"Calm down, Yukari-chan…" Fuuka said nervously. "Getting angry won't help the situation."

"That is correct." chimed in Aigis. "It is best if we erase him from our memories."

"Or, like me…" I began from my spot near the vending machine. "Constantly refer to him as Prickutsuki or Sketchtsuki in conversation."

"I will refer to him simply as 'Ikutsuki' from now on." Aigis stated with a very clear amount of hate in her otherwise monotonous voice. "Ikutsuki never mention anything about his plot, even when we were alone. Meaning, he completely hid his true nature. It is truly an extraordinary feat. This clearly illustrates how unique his psychological state was."

"It's scary just thinking about it…" commented Fuuka with a shiver.

"And all this time, we never suspected a thing…" Yukari sighed. "Ugh… It makes me feel sick…"

"Well hey…" I said. "If it makes you feel any better, I think he was paranoid of me from the get-go." That got me some curious looks. "Yukari, you remember the night I officially joined SEES, right? Do you remember what I said to everyone?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded. "You said something about being a wild card, right?"

I nodded back. "Exactly. I noticed Ikutsuki panic ever so slightly when I said that. Of course, at the time, I didn't think much of it and just attributed it to the complete aura of sketchiness he gave off to me. Think about it now, he was probably afraid I'd live up to my words and completely screw over his plans." I chuckled bitterly. "In a way, I kind of did, if only because I doubt taking a bullet charged with Agi skills to the head wasn't in his grand master plan."

"You're right." Fuuka agreed, then she sighed. "I remember how Ikutsuki-san would tell the most horrible jokes all day long… but, he was just pretending… that wasn't his true self." She lifted her gaze to look at the rest of us. "Do you think he really enjoyed the times we all spent together?"

"No one can answer that now…" noted Aigis.

"Who cares?" snarled Yukari. "All we need to know is that he betrayed us…" She scowled. "I'll never forgive him for using my father…"

I sighed and shook my head lightly. She's really getting worked up over all this.

_'That she is. Wanna head to the shrine now?'_

Yeah. A nice, somewhat depressing conversation with him might be nice to get my mind off our somewhat poor situation.

* * *

So I headed to the shrine with Azren doin' his floaty thing next to me.

"Hey Akinari." I greeted as I approached everyone's favorite terminally ill twenty-something year old dude in a striped shirt. "You seem happy today."

He smiled as I sat down. "You could say that. And I'd like you to congratulate me. As of today, I am a free individual."

"Oh cool, so you finished your story?" I asked.

He laughed and shook his head. "No, not quite yet. Almost, thought." His smile widened a little. "I just got back from the hospital. They were going to admit me, but not anymore. I guess my body is too weak to undergo surgery. So, I refused any medication as well." He gave a tired laugh. "So much for the hospital, right…?"

I winced. "I guess…"

"Now, I'm just waiting for the end." Akinari said, looking up at the sky. "But, I don't feel like I'm the only one being singled out anymore." He looked back at me. "Everyone is waiting to die if you think about it. Some just have longer to wait than others." He smiled again. "But once that time comes, it's the same for us all."

I smiled as well. "Because no one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end."

Akinari laughed. "Where did you hear that? You said it once before, I believe."

"Yeah, I did say it before." I replied. Pretty sure I did, anyways. "And I heard it from a friend of mine. Nice guy, but he had to move away a while ago." Not like I can just up and tell him about Pharos anyways. He'd probably think I was nuts.

_"Well you are."_

Oh, shut up.

"I see…" Akinari said with a nod. "That said, I'm still a little lonely, but I'm not sad anymore." He smiled again. "I want to remember what you look like, Roy-kun."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Sun Arcana._

"Thank you…" He continued, then he gave a weary sigh. "I'm… a little tired today…" he slowly stood up. "The story is almost done, so…" He looked at me. "I can show it to you soon."

I smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

I headed back to the dorm after that and found Ken and Koromaru watching Featherman. Having nothing better to do, I joined them and good times were had. Went to bed kind of early, and got up early as well. I went to school with my headphones just dangling around my neck, sort of the norm for me these days because I've gotten used to heading to school with someone.

"Hey, good news!"

I turned my head to the source of the voice to see a pair of girls talking.

"Wanna hear it?" asked the first one. Hey, that's Mizuki from Tennis club! "I know you do! I heard the boy who's transferring here today is a stud!"

Wait, another new transfer student? That's surprising.

"Really?" asked the other girl. Sun Arcana. "Are you just messing with me?"

Mizuki shook her head quickly. "No! I heard it from someone who saw him filling out the forms."

The other girl's face lit up. "Which class?"

"Eleventh Grade, Classroom F." Wait, what? He's in MY class?

"Oh…" The girl's expression fell. "Well, that's disappointing." She sighed, then shrugged. "But I'll go check him out later!"

Cue the bell. Time to meet the new guy.

* * *

I hate him already. He hasn't said a single word and I hate him already. To sum the guy up, he's wearing a long sleeved white dress shirt, a huge dull yellow scarf, and the slacks from the school uniform. Also got this kinda slicked back hair with a few bits tweaking out of it.

Oh wait, now I can tell why I hate him. He's Fortune Arcana. And that smug look on his face that just makes me want to punch him.

"Alright everyone, today we have yet another transfer student…" Began Ms. Toriumi as the new guy stood next to her at the front of the classroom. "As you all know, this is our third." She smirked. "That makes it a hat trick."

"No, sensei, this is a hat trick." I said, taking my hat off, then reaching in and pulling out a Jack Frost Doll. Yay inventory cards. I almost forgot I left that one in my pocket a few months back. Forget why I put it in their in the first place, though. "I forgot I put this thing in there…"

There was a silence over the classroom.

"How did you do that?" asked someone from behind me. I think it was that Kenji guy.

I just shrugged. "I'm awesome like that." I put my hat back on, then shrugged again and handed the doll to Aigis. "Here ya go." I'd give it to Yukari, but fuck that. Aigis is closer and is paying more attention. She's also more adorable. "And I'll stop interrupting Toriumi-sensei now."

"You're still going to have to bring me a slice of cake for that, Roy-kun." She said sharply. I, of course, introduced my face to my desk and groaned slightly as a few other students snickered. "Please introduce yourself."

I shifted my head slightly to look at the new guy again.

"My name is Ryoji Mochizuki." He stated, smiling. He sounds like Haseo from Dot Hack GU. "I would be grateful if you could show me the ropes."

Only rope I'll show you is the one I hang you with.

_"Chill, you." _said Azren sharply, poking me in the head.

Spoil sport.

Most of the other girls in class started buzzing about Ryoji. Wait, is he looking at me?

"…Nice to meet you." He finished, then he took a step back.

"Ryoji lived overseas for a long time because of his parents' work, so he may not be used to all of our customs." continued Ms. Toriumi. "Be sure to explain them to him. Now then, you need a seat. Let's see…" She scanned the room quickly. "That one's open. Second from the left, in the front."

"Um… Toriumi-sensei?" Yukari spoke up. "Technically, that seat's taken…"

My teacher's left eye twitched slightly. "You must be present to be a member of this class, so as far as I'm concerned, that seat is available. Life is nothing but a game of musical chairs." She eyed the rest of the students. "The rest of you should be careful, too."

Ryoji started towards his seat, but stopped and looked at Aigis. "Good morning. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…"

Oh hell no, he better not- WOW that is an epic glare she's giving him.

"You are dangerous." Aigis stated firmly.

"Dangerous?" He parroted, blinking a few times. "I haven't even asked you out on a date yet…"

Aigis tilted her head slightly. "A date…?"

"Aigis, what's wrong with you?" asked Yukari. Why does she care, anyways?

"Haha…" chuckled Ryoji. "Rejected from the start." He smirked that smug smirk of his. "You're an interesting girl…"

Yukari sighed loudly as Ryoji took his seat. Ms. Toriumi shared the sentiment.

"Your teacher understands, Aigis…" She stated. "You haven't had very long to be the 'new student', and already you have to share the spotlight." Ms. Toriumi sighed again. "I wish your classmates would pay attention to me for a change…" She straightened up and glared at the classroom. "Hey, are any of you listening? And no, Roy-kun, saying you are will not get you out of bringing me a piece of cake."

_**DAMN IT.**_

* * *

"Hey there."

I looked up from my desk after school and guess who was standing there? Fuckin' Ryoji.

"You must be Roy-kun, right?" He asked.

"That's me." I replied.

"It's nice to meet you." He said, that damn cocky grin of his still plastered on his face. "That thing you did with your hat earlier was pretty cool."

"Eh." I shrugged. "It's just a thing."

"A really cool thing, if you ask me!" exclaimed Ryoji. "Well, anyways, I hope we can get along…"

Why'd he trail off? "What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh, nothing…" he said quickly, shaking his head. "I just kinda feel like I've met you before."

And now to mess with this guy. "...You know, I get the same feeling."

That surprised him. "Really?"

"Sorta." I told him. "Looking at you seems to bring back memories…" I flattened my expression. "Of wanting my eyes gouged out."

He blinked. "...What…?"

"I'm kidding, dude!" I said with a laugh, folding my arms and grinning. "I'd actually like to get to know someone like you."

Ryoji sighed in relief. "Oh, well, tha-"

"And then drown them."

He stopped in his tracks and looked at me. I was holding a very serious expression. He just blinked a few times, then took a step back.

"Uh, well, I have to get going now…" he stammered slightly. "S-See ya around!"

He hurried out of the classroom after that.

Oh, that was fun. I think I'm going to enjoy messing with him.

"Was that Ryoji-san?"

Hey it's Aigis! And she's still holding the Jack Frost Doll I pulled out of my hat earlier.

"Yeah, that was him." I replied.

"You should not be near him." She said firmly. "Ryoji-san is dangerous."

"I completely agree, Aigis." I told her, standing up. "Now how do you propose we kill him without anyone finding the body for at least ten years?"

She titled her head a little and blinked.

"I'm kidding." I said. "But seriously, something about that guy bugs the hell out of me."

"I understand." Aigis commented. "I have re-analyzed him and detect nothing out of the ordinary. However, I have a 'bad feeling' about him."

I nodded slowly. "Well, try to look into it while being careful. We don't need another Ikutsuki incident on our hands."

She nodded in a agreement, then she smiled slightly. "Would you like to return to the dorm together?"

I smiled as well. "Sure."

* * *

On the way back, I discussed plans for a Tartarus run tonight. Aigis expressed concern because we'd reached the top already, but I shot that down with the logic that the Reaper did that to keep us from progressing further till I fought him, which I did and I beat him soundly. She didn't like the sound of me fighting him alone, but she accepted she couldn't have stopped me at the time due to getting repaired so she just rolled with it.

Once we god back to the dorm, I told everyone about the impending Tartarus trip. Reactions were a little mixed, but there were no objections. Except with Junpei. He didn't even respond. He was looking a little better today, actually. Not moping, but I guess that wasn't the case. Alright, that's it. I'm getting him out of this damn funk before we go killing stuff.

"Hey Junpei." I greeted as I sat down at the kitchen table across from him.

"Huh?" He looked up. "Oh, hey Roy…" He smirked. "That Ryoji Mochizuki guy is pretty cool, huh? He's got all the girls lovin' him… I'm glad I finally have a rival that can stand up to my good looks!"

"I don't like that guy very much." I commented. "But that's not why I wanted to talk."

Junpei's expression fell somewhat. "Somethin' wrong?"

"With you, yeah." I stated. "Starting on the Sixth, you've been pretty distant and grumpy and junk. What's the deal?"

He scowled slightly and turned away. "Nothing."

Bullshit. "It's about Chidori, huh?" His scowl became more intense. "What happened, man? You can tell me, I won't judge you or anything." I smiled. "You're my best friend after all. I'm the guy you come to when you've got problems that need sortin' out."

He smiled a little and nodded as he turned to face me again. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He sighed. "Chidori… told me to stop visiting her at the hospital…"

Oh god, ouch. "Why?"

"I dunno!" Junpei said, throwing his arms up slightly. "She just told me it used to be fun to have me drop by, but that now it hurts her to see me…"

I sighed.

_"Guess we can't keep this from you now…"_ Azren said, appearing on the table.

Junpei cocked an eyebrow. "Keep what from me?"

"Chidori's dieing."

His eyes widened. "…What?"

"It's no joke, man." I told him, giving him a sympathetic look. "She's got the same thing that's gonna kill Shinjiro. You know that pill he gave her that one time? It's meds to slow down the disease. She probably wanted you to stop coming so you wouldn't have to see her slowly die."

"The hell are you talking about?" Junpei asked, looking perplexed all of a sudden. "Shinjiro-senpai said those pills were to keep her Persona from killing her!"

_"Wait, what?"_ asked Azren.

"No lie, man!" He stated. "Her Persona appeared and tried to strangle her, but Shinjiro-senpai gave her a pill to make it stop! Where the hell did you hear that she was sick from?"

I scowled angrily. "Shinjiro told me. He said he was sick and was gonna die, and that black eye he had on Aigis' birthday was from Akihiko punching him about those pills because he didn't know Shinjiro was taking them."

"But… then why did he have those suppressant things?" Junpei asked. "I mean, he didn't need them, did he?"

It suddenly clicked in my head. "Fucking son of a bitch, he was taking those because of what happened to Ken's mom! He was afraid of it happening again…" I stood up. "Excuse me Junpei, I need to go talk to Akihiko." My eyes narrowed. "Alone."

_"Semi-alone."_ Azren corrected, floating up and positioning himself next to my head.

"Yeah, right." I sighed, then I turned back to Junpei. "And dude, here's some advice: Don't give up. Just keep going to see her, and don't let anything get you down." I smiled. "I can't say for sure I know what she's thinking, but I'm sure she likes talking to you."

Junpei smiled back and nodded with determination. "Thanks Roy. I will."

I gave him a thumbs up. "Good man." I turned and headed up to the second floor, then knocked on the door to Akihiko's room.

"Who is it?" He called out from within.

"It's Roy." I replied. "We need to talk. Can I come in?"

There was silence for a few seconds. "Sure. Door's unlocked."

I opened the door and stepped in, silently closing it behind me. Aki was sitting on the swiveling chair at his desk. He really is a fitness nut, there's weight sets all over. A punching bag, too.

"What's the matter?" he asked seriously.

"Shinjiro." I told him. "What the hell is with those pills he was taking?"

Aki's eyes widened. "How do you…?"

"He told me a few days before the October Operation." I stated. "He said they were meds to stop some disease from killing him, and you punched him back in September because, presumably, he never told you he was sick and taking them when he gave one to Chidori at the hospital." I scowled. "I just got done talking to Junpei about how Shinji said they were pills to keep Personae from killing the person who's head they live in when he gave one to Chidori to stop her 'sona from strangling her. Why did he lie about what they did?"

He sighed and turned away slightly as he crossed his arms. "Because they were killing him."

_"WHAT?"_ Azren shouted. _"Are you fucking kidding me?"_

Aki shook his head bitterly. "No. Those pills are meant to keep Personas under control, but they slowly poison the person taking them."

I gritted my teeth. "So he's still gonna die, then?"

He lowered his head. "I don't know. I went back to the hospital and asked the doctors the day after we visited him about checking for usage of those pills and if it was possible to save him. They said they weren't sure, but they'd try everything they could."

_"Oh yeah, that hospital's run by the Kirijo's, huh?"_ noted Azren. He sighed a moment later. _"I don't think we should tell Junpei or Hamuko about this."_

I sighed as well. "I agree. We've got enough stressing us out as it is. We don't need them breaking down right now, as much as it eats at me to lie to them about this."

Akihiko nodded. "Yeah. I don't like it, but it's for the best. We'll just have to hope they understand when the time comes…"

* * *

I left Aki's room after that, and just spent time sketching till we headed out to Tartarus. Haven't sketched in a while, honestly. I should do that more when I have free time. Drop by Art Club, too.

Anyways, we had a surprise when we headed up to what USED to be the arena I fought the Reaper at. Now there's a huge staircase leading up to the next block. My opinion of the place? Disco Fever. It's kinda dark, but theres' crazy rainbow lights all over the freaking place in here. Oh, and the Troopers are back. Fuck these guys. And the new variation of the Musha samurai shadow bastards they brought with them. Ken obliterated the Mushas with Hamas, though, so it's all good. Melchizdek actually coughed up a Heart Item about five floors up. It's a slightly glowy halo-type thing that looks big enough for Koromaru to use as an extra collar, and it nullifies Hama skills so I'll be sure to give it to the little dude when we switch out teams later. Odin tossed out an item as well; his legendary ring, Draupnir. I didn't even know either of those dudes HAD Heart items when I got them, honestly. That's what I get for not paying attention. Sadly, Draupnir isn't that useful, as it doubles the power of healing skills, and everybody who CAN heal is starting to learn the highest level healing skills, which fully heal people. Or at least Ken is, he's got Diarahan now. Can't say for sure with Aki or Yukari yet. Best part about Odin giving me that, though, was that he also learned the skill Spell Master, which halves the costs of his skills. Thunder Reign spam at half price is AWESOME. Especially with the power boost it gets from Mjolnir.

All that aside, Me, Ken, Junpei, Hamuko, and Aigis eventually got to the first Guardian of this new block and squared off with the bastards. Huge arms holding swords, and not shy about throwing Ziodynes at us. It'd be a problem if I hadn't given Aigis that Thunder Belt, but that aside we tore through those guys. It was a pain because they were resilient as hell, but eventually they died horribly and there was much rejoicing. I swapped the crew out after that, trading Ken, Hamuko, and Junpei for Yukari, Aki, and Koromaru. I kept Aigis around because we're lacking Mitsuru, and she insisted she could continue. Plus, ya know, she hits Shadows like a cinderblock fired out of a cannon.

With that, it was time to see Yukari's new persona in action. Her Wind Skills are crazy now. Azren's still better, but DAMN. She will fuck shadows up six was from Sunday with tornados now. She's also started putting more practice into arrows made of Dia energies for more direct healing without having to summon Isis and when we're too far away from her. It's surprisingly handy, and with her insane aim with that bow of hers it's every bit as effective as she probably wants it to be. Koro was appreciative of the Halo thing, plus it makes him far harder for Shadows to slaughter because he already nullifies Darkness and Fire, and with his natural speed, if shadows want to take him down, they're gonna have to WORK for it. No insta-kills, suckers. Ken will probably be worse for Shadows once I get him something to cover his darkness weakness, because Ken can HEAL.

Next up on the Guardian chopping block were three things Fuuka identified as Stasis Giants. Bastards are huge rock golems with swords almost as big as they are and a little scale thing in their other hand, basicly a combination of the previous Guardian we fought and the Balance type Shadows. Simple to kill, though. Thunder Reign spam, beat the shit out of them so they fall over, Big ball of violence, rinse, and repeat until they die horribly. We snagged the loot on the floor, then headed down and I went to the Velvet Room for some fusion.

First up was using creative fusing around to get Thunder Reign and Spell Master onto this Temperance Arcana persona Byakko, which I then fused in a four-way spread with Suzaku, Genbu, and Seiryu for the Ultimate Hierophant Persona, Kohryu. And he is freaking AWESOME. How awesome? He got Thunder Reign, Ragnarok, and Spell Master from that fusion, and he's a HUGE FREAKING GOLDEN DRAGON. It does not get more awesome then a giant gold dragon capable of calling forth hellfire and lightning while also having Mediarahan, and learning skills that nullify Wind and Strike damage while naturally resisting Light.

I also finally found out what the black tabbed Arcana is when I fused Uriel, who was of the 'Aeon' Arcana. I'd heard of it at least once when I was younger, and it's basicly a different name for the Judgment Arcana in a certain tarot deck. I've still got access to Judgment Personae, though, so there's gotta be some significance to this whole thing. Uriel is pretty epic, too, so I'm gonna keep that one around even if I've never seen anyone with the Aeon arcana so I probably won't be getting spooky voices pestering me about ranking up a Social Link. Doesn't bother me much.

Up next was checking out the Ultimate Death Arcana Persona. Thanatos. Considering it's the greek god of Death, it must be awesome. I wasn't expecting what I saw when Igor completed the fusion, though.

"What in the hell…?" I stammered. I was looking at Black, that thing that tore its way out of Orpheus back in April to curbstomp the Arcana Magician. "It's Black! The hell is going on here?"

_"I dunno, man."_ Azren commented as Thanatos poofed into my head like all Personae do after Igor fuses them. _"Something's not right. How did he bust his way out back then?"_

"I cannot say." Igor replied. "For even I do not know."

I frowned, summoning Thanatos' card to stare at the image of the Persona contained in it. I thought for a moment, then looked back at Azren. "You think Pharos had something to do with it?"

_"What makes you think he had any hand in turning that guy loose?"_

"Well, we never really did find out much about him, and he DID say he was always watching." I stated. "Could be he can pull Personae out through my head if he feels like it."

_"Or it's connected to Orpheus."_ He said. _"I mean, he was a splinter of me caused by emotional trauma, and then you evoked him by blasting him out of your skull. It could be that, because of his unstable creation, he pulled part of a powerful Personae, Thanatos in this case, out with him. And seeing as how you didn't have any Social Links back then, you couldn't handle busting that guy out, even if it was on accident, and you collapsed after the adrenaline rush wore off."_

I bobbed my head a little. "That's one theory, and probably the closest to whatever the hell happened." I sighed. "But let's just forget it for now. I've got more fusing to do."

* * *

And fuse more I did. On a hunch, I tried to fuse Orpheus and Thanatos, but Igor couldn't pull it off. It could be a Max Social Link Persona, possibly for the Sun Arcana or for Empress or Judgment, two Links I still haven't established. Hell, it could even be from the Aeon Arcana, but I kinda doubt that. Whatever its deal is, I'll work it out some other time.

I took a look at his skills before I went about fusing, and deemed Thanatos to be another awesome 'sona. He got Die for Me and Mudo Boost from the fusion, which is epic, and he naturally knew Megidola. Also managed to pass on Null Light, so he has no weakness, plus he's got a pretty epic single-target Slash Physical. Even better, he got the 'Fear combo' of Evil Smile and Fear Boost from Mot, and he already knew Ghastly Wail, so now I can either destroy my foes with the power of darkness, make them all afraid then obliterate them, throw giant laser nukes around, or just decapitate them. And all of that in one badass looking Persona. Hells yeah. Bonus points for having a Heart Item, which I suspect is will nullify Darkness attacks.

Next on the list was the Ultimate Priestess Arcana Persona, Scathach. Nothing too exceptional, but she's got Mabufudyne and Magarudyne, plus Myriad Arrows and Power Charge, as well as Invigorate 3, which causes my SP to rapidly regenerate and she resists four elements, which is neat.

After that, I got ahold of quite possibly my favorite personae to date. Norn, the Ultimate Fortune Arcana Persona. Why? Simple. It's got the ultimate wind skill - Panta Rhei. Like Thunder Reign and Ragnarok, it's single target, but it will FUCK SHIT UP. It also got Wind Boost from the fusion -which was the three fates from Greek Mythology; Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos- and Mind Charge, which on top of naturally having Wind Amp, makes Norn the go-to Persona for storming death. Even moreso then Azren, which kinda bummed him out, but he was cool with it. Norn even learned Regenerate 3 and Invigorate 3 from the Social Link power boost. Regenerate is exactly what you'd think it is; physical health regeneration. Add in Invigorate 3, and I'm now neigh unkillable, bonus points for Absorb Elec, which plugs Norn's only weakness and makes me even HARDER to kill because it already absorbs Wind naturally. And Norn looks pretty awesome, if a bit weird. It's a big clock with ornate angel statue things around it. Still neat.

Another 'sona I fused was Chernobog of the Moon Arcana. Nothing special about him, except he coughed up a Heart Item the moment he was done being fused. Black God's Rock, according to Elizabeth. It nullifies Pierce attacks, so I'll hold onto it just in case. Might come in handy later. I didn't keep Chernobog around, and fused him away and eventually got myself Trumpeter, a persona of the Judgment Arcana. He wasn't anything special either, so I fused him away till I got Bishamonten, a Tower Arcana Persona. Again, not exceptional, but I managed to fuse him with Resist Ice, so he didn't have a weakness, and he learned Arms Master from the Social Link power boost, which halves the cost of Physical attacks of any kind. Definitely handy, so I kept hold of him.

Then came probably the one Persona that bothers the hell out of me the most out of any I've summoned. Lilith. Devil Arcana, not very interesting in terms of skills or resistances. But the damn thing is a mostly naked chick with tattoos and a huge snake coiling around her and it reminds me of that one villain from Ghostbusters. I regret ever making it, so I fused that sucker away. Next notable Persona was Hariti of the Empress Arcana, and this one is very worth keeping around even without Social Link power boostage. She inherited a lot of support skills from the fusion I used, so she can throw out all three kinds of -nda spells and -kaja spells in their area of effect versions, which is crazy awesome, and handy in case I bring along Aigis or Akihiko, but not both of them, because I can cover for the other with this 'sona.

With my rampant fusing done, I called it a night and we all went back to the dorm for some rest.

Yukari pestered me before class the next day that apparently Mitsuru is coming back to the dorm that evening, which is good but I don't think she'll be up for coming to Tartarus with us for a while. I also found a reason to not hate Ryoji today. He's apparently got a fangirl horde now, and I recognize a bunch as being from that horde that suddenly stopped chasing me months ago. Perhaps I shall let him continue to live for now.

That aside, I headed to the mall after school and pulled Odin out of the compendium, then handed him over to the Antique Shop lady for Weapon Fusion. In theory I'll be getting Gungnir, Odin's mythical spear, out of the deal. That's probably going to be great for Ken. Gonna stuff Siegfried in for weapon fusion next, because it'll probably yield his sword Balmung, and I predict Junpei's gonna be able to kick some serious ass with that thing. Probably even more then with the Laevateinn I made out of Surt a while back.

Mitsuru was back by the time I got to the dorm, and Aigis was worried because she felt responsible for Takeharu's demise. I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do, so I just left it all alone. Trying to fix things might just make shit worse. With that in mind, I just went to bed.

The next day went by pretty much without incident, but after school I found spotted Aigis holding a deck of playing cards and looking like she intended to be throwing them. And throw them she did, hitting Ryoji square in the back of his head, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"Aigis…" I said as I approached her. "What are you doing?"

"Determining Ryoji-san's threat level." She replied, carefully aiming before flicking another card at him.

I blinked. "By throwing playing cards at him? Where'd you even learn how to do that?"

"I observed you hurling cards at Shadows on several occasions."

"Ah." I bobbed my head a little as she threw another card. She missed Ryoji's head probably by a millimeter. "Can I join you?"

"Certainly." Aigis replied, handing me a card. Ace of Spades.

"Alright, then here's a lesson for you, Aigis." I said, carefully holding the card in my right hand while my index finger and thumb where in a gun shape. "Have you been trying to channel Persona skills?"

"Occasionally." She stated. "Though it is difficult to find a practical means of doing so with the skills Palladion wields."

"Well, you can try making bullets out of your Kaja skills." I offered, aiming the card like a gun. "Or by using Sukukaja to fire cards like so…"

The card shot out of my hand like a gunshot and slammed into Ryoji's head, hitting him hard enough to knock him into the bushes.

"Just walk away…" I whispered quickly, grabbing Aigis' sleeve and leading her out of school. "Don't make eye contact, act innocent, don't say anything, just walk away…"

* * *

Thankfully nobody saw what happened, and hopefully Ryoji's not dead so we'll probably never get busted for it. I hope. Mitsuru was still kind of gloomy, though Junpei was lookin' a little better, so we stayed at the dorm that night. Apart from mention of the School Trip next week, nothing of any note happened. No, wait, Aigis was secretly sniping Ryoji with kaja bullets all day. That was funny, especially because they were actually hurting him. I hung out at Art Club after school, then headed back to the dorm.

Next day saw some hilarity ensue after school. The Student Council was looking for Mitsuru, so they were recruiting students to scour the school for her. One of them happened to be Ryoji, who came to me.

"Hey, Roy-kun." He said, bounding towards me. "Have you seen Mitsuru-senpai?"

I shook my head. "Nah, but I think Yukari mentioned going to see if she was on the roof. Might wanna check there."

"Yukari-san, huh?" He grinned. "I haven't gotten the chance to ask her out yet…"

_'Evil plan. Ask him if he knows his way around town very well.'_

I see where this is going. "Well hey, if you wanna give it a shot, try inviting her somewhere. You know your way around town?" He shook his head. "Ah, then lemme tell ya, there's this swank place on Shirakawa Boulevard. It's this fancy part of town. Very high class and all that jazz. There's this one place there she's always wanted to go, but don't tell her I told you any of this, okay? Just come find me after you talk to her and I'll tell ya where to go if she accepts your invite."

Ryoji beamed at me. "Thanks, I will!"

He hurried off after that.

"Uh, dude…" Junpei began, approaching me from the opposite direction. "You know that place is where…"

"Exactly." I grinned. "That was the entire point. Now we'll just have to see how badly Yukari wails on him."

* * *

About five minutes later, we got our answer in the form of Ryoji shouting in pain, followed by Yukari stomping down the stairs angrily before grabbing her school bag and leaving. Ryoji appeared moments later, limping. I think Yukari crushed his foot, and I find it hilarious. Of course, I still inexplicably find Ryoji completely infuriating for some reason so that's probably why.

After that was all said and done, I headed to the antique shop to pick up Gungnir, then handed over Siegfried for more fusin'. Good news was Mitsuru was up for Tartarus that night, so we headed out.

First group to head up with me was Ken, Mitsuru, Koromaru, and Junpei. Gungnir lived up to its expected levels of awesome by basicly being a spear version of Mjolnir, so Ken's Ziodyne sniping was more devastating. Mitsuru was surprised to see Thanatos the first time I summoned him, but it only barely registered on her face. She didn't really say anything about it, though.

The first guardian we found was an industrial strength version of the Hermit arcana Phantom Shadow. Sadly for that thing, it was about as durable as styrofoam when it came to our attacks so the sucker just got obliterated. I sent Ken, Koro, and Junpei back down and had them send up Hamuko, Aki, and Yukari. I'm leaving Aigis benched this trip because she was on the frontline a lot last time.

Yukari and Aki were more vocal about me using Thanatos, and I just told them I have no idea how that whole thing in April worked, which I honestly didn't. They stopped after that and got back to focusing on killing stuff. Troopers are still massive pains in the ass. They're like special ops teams for the Shadows. Thankfully Kohryu and Norn can ruin their days epicly with Fire, Lightning, and Wind.

And now I'm wondering when I'll find that Persona that knows the ultimate Ice Skill. That's gonna be neat. ANYWAYS, next up on the tour of destruction was a trio of Guardians Fuuka called Royal Dancers. Pricks liked to throw around ailment skills, but thankfully they failed basicly all the time so we just cut them down. Woo.

Killing them was also enough for Thanatos to learn his final skill, Brave Blade, which is far superior to the last Slash-type physical skill he had, and cough up his heart item, the Ring of Darkness. Like I predicted, it blocks Darkness, so once we headed down I tossed it to Ken. Only one who's weakness I still haven't got covered is Akihiko's, but I'm working on it. Headed on home after that, then went to bed.

Next morning was Sunday, so I headed to the shrine to see Akinari.

"Mornin' Akinari." I said as I approached him.

"It's you…" He smiled. "I've been waiting. I finished my story and wanted to show it to you."

"Really?" I asked as I sat down. "Well by all means, go right ahead."

"He seems more cheerful today." Azren noted.

That he does, now shut up so I can hear him.

"As you know, I was having a lot of trouble with the ending…" Akinari began. "But I finally figured it out. Since the alligator ate his friend the bird, he cried and cried for a very long time. In fact, he was so sad… that he drowned in his own tears."

I winced. Harsh.

"But, his tears became a beautiful lake, around which grew beautiful flowers and a tree with delicious fruit." He smiled. "The other animals in the forest came there often to relax… but none of them new the alligator had created it or that he was gone. The end." He sighed contently. "That's the ending I decided on. Even though the alligator did not find meaning in his life, the residents of the forest did. They just didn't realize it…" He lifted his gaze to the clear blue sky. "Because… the meaning of my life is not something I should worry about. It's really what others think of my life or what I was able to do for them." He turned to me again. "So… for me, or you, or anyone… the meaning of our lives is something we make but don't see. People can't survive without help from others… We all depend on one another."

"That's deep, Akinari." I said, nodding. "I can see what you mean with it."

He smiled again. "I'm glad." He held up a worn notebook I hadn't noticed was on his lap. "This is the notebook… I wrote my story in. It's all I have to leave behind. I want you to have something… since you shared my last moments."

Wait, WHAT?

"My… body feels lighter…" Akinari stood up and took a few steps away from me, then looked back. "Thank you for everything… coming to see me, talking… even discussing the meaning of life…" He smiled wearily. "I… can be glad that I was born…"

**CRASH**

Oh god damn it, WHY NOW?

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Sun Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Asura, the ultimate form of the Sun Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

And then I noticed Akinari. He was becoming… transparent, almost…

"I have to go now…" He said sadly. "Maybe… some day… I hope… we meet again…"

And like that, he turned and walked away, vanishing into thin air.

Akinari is gone.

I tugged my hat down over my eyes and gripped his notebook tightly, then silently walked back to the dorm.

* * *

Author Notes - And so Roy has completed every Social Link short of Fool, Empress, Judgment, and Aeon now. And it is at this point that all the Ryoji fans stop reading this story because I'm going to be VERY mean to him. It makes me laugh. And yes, Roy's dialog about wanting his eyes gouged out and drowning Ryoji are a Shout Out to the annoying Gnomes from Fable 3. It's funny to me, and it's one of those things I've been waiting the entire story to do. The bit with Aigis throwing cards at Ryoji was a more recent idea, but is still completely hilarious. And I apologize again for taking so long to get this chapter out, I got writer's block for the whole scene with Chihiro, Kaz, Hidetoshi, and Rio back near the start of the chapter. BUT HEY, more good news! Next chapter is the School Trip! Will Roy & the guys fall prey to Mitsuru's Execution, or will everyone's favorite Fedora-wearing Persona User come up with a cunning plan? Find out in Chapter 43!


	43. Kyoto Shenanigans and Burning Resolve

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Despair's Cold Edge** - If you like the spoils of Roy's latest Fusion Rampage, wait until he starts getting into the Personae with a base level of 70 or higher. Some of those things are going to be utterly rediculous, based on awesome fusions I've heard of/seen people pull off. Like Messiah with Ragnarok, Nilhifeim, Thunder Reign, and Panta Rhei for example. I'm serious. Look for 'Awesome Messiah' on YouTube if you don't believe me. Not saying that a Messiah like that will appear in AFNF, I'm just saying that's the level of insanity I'm thinking of when I'm working out what Personae Roy's gonna be having around.

**Overlord Duelist **- Ah, the Execution. Personally I always assumed the girls grabbed something heavy and smashed all the guys in the balls with it, but eh. But yeah, Ryoji's going to suffer. A lot. And it'll probably be funny. And likely cause any remaining Ryoji fans to stop reading my story, BUT OH WELL.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I avoided everyone when I got back to the dorm, and set Akinari's notebook down on my desk. I tried to process what just happened, and the only thing I could think of was that he died before I saw him, and somehow his soul stayed around to give me that notebook. Considering the supernatural bullshit I have to deal with, it's entirely possible.

Next morning everyone was pestering me about what happened, but I just told 'em I was just thinkin' 'bout stuff and not to worry about it. It didn't totally convince them, but they didn't keep pestering me about it. Everybody at school was buzzing about the School Trip that starts tomorrow. Granted, it kinda sucks we're not leaving the country, but I've never been to Kyoto so why the hell not?

Junpei was stoked as hell about it, and so was Ryoji even as he kept complaining about something hitting him a lot in class. Aigis really likes kaja bulleting him in the head. I do as well. Mainly because it leaves no evidence. Mwehehehe.

Ken's first instinct when we got back was to try reverse psychology-ing us into bringing him a souvenir from the trip, seeing as how him and Koromaru couldn't come along. It got hilarious when he mentioned Kyoto's got epic snackage, because Hamuko just plain materialized out of thin air asking who was talking about snacks. I think she's figured out how to turn on and off her Auto-Ma-Kajas, because she's getting close to Wesker-Fu levels of speed. Or she's got a new skill she hasn't mentioned yet, I'm not sure. Hafta ask her sometime.

Anywho, I spent that night packing clothes and crap for the trip. Once I was sufficiently ready as far as I was concerned, I went to bed.

In the morning, I grabbed my stuff and headed out with the gang to the station to meet up with the rest of the students or what the hell ever. A few guys wanted to play poker on the train, but the moment they said it and saw me poke my head around the seat they changed their tune. Apparently word got around quick that I will always win at cards because of what happened on the train ride to Inaba. I tried to assure them I just wanted to offer my services dealing the cards, but they didn't believe me. Spoil sports.

"OW!"

I turned my head in time to see Hamuko stomping her way to her seat across from me. I looked back to see Ryoji doubled over in pain. Oh god, I think she kicked him in the balls. I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"He was bothering me." She huffed, folding her arms.

_"Pretty sure he bothers everybody."_ Azren commented.

"Well I don't like it!" She grumbled. "He's such a perv…"

"Oh good, so I'm not alone in hating him…" I grinned. "By the way, did Hebe learn any new skills recently? You've kinda got this weird super speed thing going now…"

"She did, actually." Hamuko stated. "It's called Heat Riser."

Eyebrow. "What does it do?"

"It applies all three kaja effects on someone at the same time, and it's more powerful then the normal kaja skills, according to Hebe."

I whistled. "So you've got a super kaja on top of three Auto-Kajas now?" She nodded. "Damn, that's epic. I don't even had any 'sonas that can use that move."

Hamuko looked surprised. "Really?"

I shook my head. "Nope. None of mine got that. Guess that makes you special."

She gave me a wary look. "Are you hitting on me?"

"No." I said, looking partly offended. "No offence to you or nothing."

"None taken." She smiled, then she glanced down the isle. "He's at it again, Roy-kun…"

I turned to look back, and sure enough Ryoji was already hitting on some other girls.

"He may be a massive perv, but he's a tough son of a bitch, I'll give him that." said Azren.

"Ditto that." I agreed.

* * *

Thankfully for Ryoji, he managed to avoid getting kicked again. But he couldn't avoid the kaja bullets. It's so much fun to screw with him. We got to the inn we're staying at kind of late.

"We're finally here!" Junpei proclaimed once we were inside. "Whoa, nice place!"

"It IS an expensive area, after all." Yukari commented.

"Hey, what's that umbrella for?"

I looked over my shoulder at Ryoji, then at the umbrella he was talking about. "Hell if I know."

"Maybe it's for good luck?" he suggested, then he had that damn grin of his on his face again. "Speaking of which… Where can I find a geisha?"

Oh for the love of bacon…

"That's right, I forgot about that!" chimed in Junpei. "Count me in!"

"Junpei-kun, don't encourage him…" Hamuko grumbled.

"Yeah, keep dreamin', Junpei." laughed Yukari.

Our little band of misfits strolled further into the building, and stopped near a large window that looked out at a courtyard with a small pool in it.

"The stone area outside is filled with water…" Aigis noted. "Is this one of the open-air hot springs I have heard about?"

Wait, they have hot springs here? Oh hell yes.

"No, it's just a courtyard…" Fuuka told her. "It's not meant for bathing."

"So, where were you guys gonna go at your old school, Ryoji?" asked Junpei. "Somewhere interesting, I bet. Kyoto's so typical, don't ya think?"

Ryoji mused for a moment then shook his head. "I don't really remember."

"Are you serious?" Yukari asked with a surprised look. "That's the highlight of the year!"

Well it's possible he was living outside Japan until he transferred over here, ya dumb broad.

_'Why am I suddenly imagining Akihiko saying that?'_

Probably because that shit's funny.

"Come on, you can talk later. You're blocking the hallway." **WHOA GEEZ** Ninja Toriumi! "Girls, your rooms are that way. Why don't you go get unpacked?"

Ms. Toriumi and a bunch of other girls headed off in the direction she indicated.

"You heard her." Sighed Junpei.

"We'll see you later then." Fuuka said, bowing slightly before she and Yukari started away.

"Oh no you don't." I said, grabbing Junpei by the shoulder as he tried to follow the girls. "None of that, you." I grabbed Ryoji by the scarf as he attempted to sneak past me. "Or you."

"Better luck next time, you two." teased Hamuko. "C'mon Aigis, let's get going."

Aigis nodded, then followed Hamuko. Ryoji and Junpei looked back at me with slight glares.

"What gives, man?" asked my hat-wearing best friend.

"Yeah!" Agreed Ryoji. "Not cool!"

"Ah, quit your whining." I grunted before I started dragging the two of them up the stairs. "C'mon, let's just get up to our rooms, 'cause I really don't want to piss off Toriumi-sensei. She'll probably make us buy her an entire cake if we get her mad."

I heard the two of them murmur disgruntledly as I continued to lead them up the stairs.

* * *

The rooms in here are damn nice. Even better, I'm not sharing a room with Ryoji. Nope, I somehow managed to end up in the same room as Junpei and Akihiko, which almost made no sense, but I guess they're sticking people who know each other together. That, or Mitsuru had something to do with it. Probably did.

"Man, even though we're at an inn far away from home, it feels just like the dorm." Akihiko sighed contently.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." I agreed. This Yukata thing we've got to wear is kind of weird. And the color doesn't look good with my fedora and it makes my already insanely noticeable hair stand out even more. "So hey, what do you guys think of Ryoji?"

"He's that transfer student who showed up in your class last week, right?" Aki asked. "I've seen him around school a few times, and he's always talking to a few girls. He doesn't seem like that bad of a guy just from a glance."

"What about you, Junpei?"

"Eh, he's okay." he shrugged. "Kind of a jerk, though. He's always acting all smug and full of himself when he's scoring dates with girls, like he's better then other people or something…"

_"Really?"_ asked Azren. _"He just seemed a little annoying to me 'n Roy."_

"Nah, he's a prick." grunted Junpei. "You know how I've been goin' to the hospital to see Chidori a lot? He asked me why once and I told him. He just laughed at me, then walked away." He scowled. "Then he's all chummy the next day like nothing happened."

I whistled. "Damn. Then why do you hang around him so much?"

Junpei shrugged. "I'm just bein' nice 'cuz he's the new guy."

"Ah. Makes sense." I nodded with a yawn. "Blargh… I'm tired. We should probably hit the sack…"

"Yeah…" agreed Akihiko with a yawn of his own. "G'night guys…"

"Night, Senpai." "What he said. Sleep time for Roy is now…"

* * *

Nothing big went down the next day. We just did some sightseeing around Kyoto, and it was pretty neat. Ryoji almost got a concussion from Hamuko Super-Kaja bulleting him in the head and knocking him over. Thankfully he just assumed he tripped, so he didn't get pissed. I don't think I'll get tired of tormenting him, and I'm still not even sure why I hate him. Maybe it's because he reminds me of Yukari in terms of personality. It's entirely possible, I mean I hated Yukari right away when I first got here. Still kind of do, but I've gotten so used to her bullshit I don't even care anymore.

We all got to split up by this river near the Inn, but I just ended up heading back with Aigis, Fuuka, and Hamuko because there wasn't anything that really grabbed my interests in going around to look at. We all got changed into our yukatas, then met up in the entrance-type place of the inn to check out the souvenir stand.

"Oh man, there's so many different kinds of snacks here…" Hamuko partly whined. "I can't decide what I want to get…"

"Well hey, don't forget to get somethin' to bring back for Ken." I commented over my shoulder. "He said he wanted… oh what was it called… nama-yatsuhashi! That's it." I scanned the shelves. "I don't see any over here…"

"They are over here, Roy-san."

I turned around to look at Aigis. "That they are. Thanks."

I walked over and grabbed a couple packages of the snack I know exactly nothing about for Ken and paid for them. The girls got their own things, and we just sat down on some benches in the lobby chatting about stuff.

"So, what do you think of Ryoji-kun, Fuuka-chan?" Hamuko asked suddenly.

"Ryoji-kun?" Fuuka frowned slightly. "Um… I don't really know. He seems nice enough, but I get chills whenever I hear him talking. It's like he's not telling the truth all the time…"

Eyebrow. "So, what, you think he's a chronic liar?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. Maybe he just has a lot of bad memories and tires to hide it by being cheerful all the time?"

_"Ouch…" _Azren winced. _"Sounds rough…"_

"Hebe thinks so, too." agreed Hamuko before she let out a huff and crossed her arms. "But he's still a perv."

"That he is." I nodded.

* * *

We all headed up to our rooms a little bit after that. I just stayed up sketching till about eleven, then went to bed. Next day was a walking tour of the town. Mitsuru was a hell of a lot more cheerful, and surprisingly her Persona had resolved from Penthesilea into Artemisia. I'm going to wager her ability to freeze stuff is absolutely ludicrous now, but I'm kinda curious about what sparked her resolution.

When we eventually got back to the inn, I saw Rio and Yuko chewing out Kenji and Kaz over something. Judging from the shame on their faces, they were trying to peek in the hot springs.

Speaking of which, I wanna check those out before we have to leave tomorrow.

_"Better go check the time schedule for them, then."_ Azren suggested. _"It switches from guys only to girls only at certain times, doesn't it?"_

I think so. Let's find out, and I think that's the schedule right over there.

I walked over and I was right, it WAS the time chart thingy. And there's only about six minutes before it's girls only for the next hour. WELL DARN.

"Hey, Roy!"

I turned around to see Junpei walkin' over to me with a slight grin. "What's up, dude?"

"Nothin' much, just wanted to know if you wanted to check out the outdoor hot spring." He told me.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'll wait an hour before I head over there. It's about to switch over to girls only."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the chart. "Says so right here."

"Let me see that!" He shoved past me to look at the chart, then he scowled. "Ah man, you're right!"

"Eyup." I grunted. "Let's just wait an hour before we go in. It won't kill us."

"Pfft, why wait, dude?" Junpei smirked. "It's still guys only for a little while longer…"

I flattened my expression. "Dude, I dunno about you, but I don't wanna risk having a bunch of girls come in and beat the shit out of us for being perverts. ESPECIALLY not Hamuko, Mitsuru, Aigis, Fuuka, or Yukari." I leaned forward. "You've seen what they can do to shadows. Imagine what they'll do to US."

Junpei's face became almost completely devoid of color as he likely imagined the unspeakable horrors the SEES girls would inflict upon us.

"You wanna wait a bit?" I asked.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me." He agreed quickly.

"Hey, Junpei-kun! Roy-kun!"

Oh hey look, it's Ryoji coming towards us.

"You guys wanna head to the springs?" He asked.

We shook our heads.

"Nah, it's cool." Junpei said. "Roy here brought his laptop and wanted to play a few games with me. We'll come join ya later."

Ryoji frowned. "But you were looking forward to it a minute ago…"

"That was before I said I'd whoop him at Street Fighter." I smirked.

"And I aim to prove you wrong!" stated Junpei, jabbing his finger into my arm. "We'll catch ya later, Ryoji."

Ryoji just shrugged. "Alright, suit yourselves…"

* * *

We headed back up to our room as Ryoji went to the hot springs alone. He'll either be amazingly successful or have his balls get ground into a fine powder. I'm hoping for the latter.

Anywho, me 'n Junpei were in fact killing each other at Street Fighter while we waited for the springs to switch to guys only. Aki was watching us before we started hearing something.

"The hell is that noise?" I asked.

"I dunno…" Junpei replied. "Here, turn the volume down."

We did and now we can easily hear the sound of someone screaming in pain.

_"I think that's Ryoji…"_ Azren said. _"Damn. Poor bastard must've gotten caught…"_

"I wonder who it was who found him…" Aki commented.

"I know a way to find out." I said. "Azren."

_"On it."_ He replied. _'Hey, Fuuka!'_

_{What is it, Roy-kun? I'm helping punish Ryoji-kun right now.}_

…Uh, nevermind. It can wait till later.

_{Okay.}_

"It's Fuuka and the girls." I replied. "And I've never heard her sound THAT angry and yet calm at the same time before."

Akihiko winced. "I feel sorry for Ryoji now…"

Eyebrow. "Why?"

"Mitsuru's probably giving him one of her 'Executions' as we speak."

"E-Execution?" Junpei stammered.

"That…" I began slowly. "Does not sound pleasant."

"It's not." Akihiko shivered. Oh god he's been the victim of on before, hasn't he?

_'Probably.'_

Now I feel kinda sorry for the guy. He's getting his nuts car bombed by the girls.

…

Eh, he'll live. Hope he doesn't want kids.

* * *

Eventually the screaming stopped, and due to the lack of ambulances, we assumed Ryoji isn't too seriously hurt. About twenty minutes later, it was the guys turn in the springs so the three of us headed down to the springs.

"Roy-san."

Or we were until we encountered Hamuko and Aigis in the lobby. Neither one looked especially happy, though only Aigis seemed to have noticed us.

"Hey Aigis." I greeted. "Hey Hamuko."

"Oh, hello Roy-kun." Hamuko chirped, her expression brightening considerably when she saw us.

"What's with the grumpy faces?" Junpei asked.

"Ryoji-san is as stupid as he is dangerous." Aigis stated slightly angrily.

I winced. "I take it that has something to do with the screaming we heard a little while ago?"

"That is correct."

Junpei swallowed loud enough for me to actually hear him do it. "Do we wanna know what you guys did to him?"

"I don't think so, Junpei-kun." Hamuko said. "Not unless you want to have nightmares about it happening to you."

I glanced at Junpei and Aki, and they glanced back at me.

"We'll take your word for it." the three of us said in unison.

* * *

So after that little chat, us dudes headed to the springs and relaxed a bit. Hot Springs are freaking awesome. One thing had us worried, though; There was no sign of Ryoji, or whatever the girls did to him. Finding something is one thing, but finding NO EVIDENCE is scary as hell.

After a semi-relaxing, semi terror-enducing soak, we headed back up to our rooms to get some sleep. Next morning, we got ready to head back to Iwatodai. We had nothing to do till it was time for our train, so we went looking for Ryoji. We found him slumped over on a bench with his bags.

"Hey dude." Junpei said as we approached him. "You look like hell…"

"I experienced hell…" he replied, a sort of monotone to his voice. "It truly was an 'execution'…"

"Morning!"

I turned my head and Yukari was walking over to us with Fuuka, Aigis, and Hamuko.

"Hey Yukari." I greeted back. "Lookin' to kill time till we gotta leave?"

"Yeah, something like that." she yawned. She glanced at Ryoji and her eyes narrowed. The other girls likewise shot a glare at him. "We'll see you guys at the station."

The four of them walked away, just in time for Mitsuru to appear.

"Good morning, Fortune." She said. "Did you enjoy the trip?"

"Oh yeah, it was cool." I said to her. "You?"

She giggled. "It was nice to relax."

"I'm just glad you're doing better now." I commented.

Mitsuru smiled. "Thank you. Do you remember what time we're returning?"

"We're supposed to meet at Kyoto Station in about an hour, right?" Aki asked.

Mitsuru nodded. "That's correct. I'll see you then."

She walked past us. I looked over at Ryoji.

"Dude, she didn't even acknowledge your existence the entire time we were talking." Junpei said, wincing slightly.

"I know…" Ryoji sighed, hanging his head.

"Welp, it's official, dude." I said, clapping my hands together. "Every girl at our dorm hates your guts."

"I know!" he griped, burying his face in his hands. "Just leave me alone, please…"

I looked at Aki and Junpei, then shrugged. "Erright. Catch ya later, Ryoji."

* * *

We ignored the guy the rest of the day. The train ride back to Iwatodai was nothing special, apart from Ryoji avoiding the girls whenever possible. It was hilarious.

"Hey Ken!" I called out as I threw open the door to the dorm. "Guess who's back!"

Koromaru barked a few times and scampered over to us, wagging his tail happily. Ken looked over from his spot on one of the sofas.

"Hello!" He greeted back. "Wow, that was fast… How was Kyoto?"

"Aw, man… I'm so tired." Junpei griped as he staggered in behind me. "But, it was a lotta fun. I brought you back some 'souvenir stories', so I'll ya them later."

Ken blinked. "Oh, okay. I can't wait to hear them…"

"Yeah, well I brought you back some actual souvenirs." I said, tossing Ken the snacks I got him. "Don't eat it all at once."

"Wow! Thank you for the souvenir, Roy-san!" Ken beamed, tearing open one of the packages.

Koro looked up at me and tilted his head. He whimpered slightly.

"Sorry little buddy." I told him, kneeling down at patting his head. "They didn't have anything you'd like. But hey, that DVD set you wanted comes out this weekend, so we'll go get it for ya then."

Koromaru barked happily, his tail wagging again. _(I can't wait!)_

I laughed. "I'll bet."

* * *

So we all went to bed shortly there after, and I'm pretty sure I heard Yukari talking to Hamuko about how Ryoji should be thanking them all for kicking the shit out of him on the logic that it'll prevent him from trying to do what he was doing in the future when the two of them walked past to head up to the third floor. I found that completely hilarious.

I stopped by the antique shop after school the next day to pick up Balmung and some other stuff. Still can't get the Megidolaon card, and that makes me sad, but Thanatos spat out a card for Megidola so I'll be fine. I also got informed of us having 'Career Experience' next week, meaning the students are getting shafted into part time work stuff instead of school. Freaking lame.

When I got back to the dorm, Aigis was talking to Koromaru on the second floor.

"Something wrong?" I asked her. She looked over at me.

"I can't stop thinking about Ryoji-san." She relented, sounding concerned. "I am worried I may overheat." She looked at Koro. "I even asked Koromaru-san for help…"

He just barked quietly and tilted his head.

Aigis bobbed her head slightly. "Hm, I see. Then, I shall continue my observations."

"And by 'observations' you mean 'shooting Ryoji will bullets made of Sukukaja', right?"

"That is correct."

I gave her a thumbs up. "Then keep up the good work, Aigis. I'm counting on you." I hope she gives him a concussion.

She smiled and nodded again. God her smile is too damn cute.

_'Easy tiger.'_

Shaddup, you.

* * *

I headed to bed after that, and woke up kind of early the next day. With Akinari gone, I honestly have nothing I can think of to do on Sundays apart from just hang around at the dorm. So that's what I'm doin'. Headin' down to the lounge to just relax. Besides, that trip was kinda tiring. Probably head to Tartarus tomorrow or something and get up to the next barrier before the full moon. Elizabeth'll prolly give me some good loot for the document that's probably up there.

Once I was downstairs, I noticed Junpei looked like he was moping again, so I headed over to talk to him.

"Yo." I said as I sat down next to him. "What's on your mind, Junpei?"

He frowned, then sighed. "Roy, lemme ask you something… Let's say your lady told you she didn't want you to visit her anymore, but you really want to see her." He looked at me. "What would you do?"

"I'd go see her anyways."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Junpei sighed again. "But, what if she gets pissed again? Do you think she'll end our relationship? I mean, I don't want that to happen…"

"You're worrying too much, dude." I said, patting him on the shoulder. "Just don't visit Chidori every day. Leave her be for a couple days, then drop by or something like that."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah… I get ya…" He grinned. "Thanks Roy."

"No problem." I yawned. "Career Experience is gonna suck, though."

"Ugh… Man, I know…" Junpei whined. "I don't even know what they've got me doing…"

"Well, it can basicly be anything, right?"

"Yeah…""What if they've got you as a janitor at the hospital Chidori's at for a day or two? You could talk to her on your break, and hey, if she sees you workin' hard at it, she might think you're a responsible dude."

Junpei's eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"I can't say I know for sure, but it's entirely possible." I admitted. "And don't get your hopes up too much, you might be stuck working in some office building or something."

He sighed again. "Yeah, that's true…"

I bobbed my head a little, then the two of us just silently sat there for a while.

"Wanna play Vesperia?" I asked, looking over at him.

He shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

So we spent the new few hours playing Tales of Vesperia for lack of anything better to do. The fact we hadn't beaten the game yet probably helped. Or, more accurately, hadn't beaten the bonus dungeons. Fuck the Labyrinth of Memories, though. Total bullshit. At around two in the afternoon, I headed to the store with Koromaru to get the DVD set he wanted.

We got it, then came back and spent the rest of the day watching it. I can see why Koromaru likes it, it's the manliest TV show I've ever seen ever. Even Junpei and Ken agreed.

After we finished watching that, I turned on Featherman for the hell of it. It was just getting to the good part of the episode when the news interrupted.

_["We interrupt Phoenix Ranger Featherman R for this special bulletin."]_ began the newscaster before an image of the hospital appeared next to his head. _["It seems that someone threw an explosive device into the Tatsumi Memorial Hospital last night. Police suspect a crazed member of one of the Apathy Syndrome victims'' families, and…"]_

"WHAT?" Junpei shot to his feet.

_"Slow down, dude."_ Azren said sharply. _"Chidori's fine. Look at the screen."_

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Look." I pointed at the image of the outside of the hospital that was indicating where the explosion took place. "Chidori's room is on the opposite side of the hospital from there. At most, she's probably just a little nervous. You can go check on her first thing tomorrow, alright?"

Junpei scowled slightly, then sighed. "Alright…"

* * *

I headed up to my room about half an hour and just started sketching for the hell of it again. Mostly cartoonish shenanigans chibi versions of myself and Aigis were doing to torment a chibi Ryoji. I barely noticed the Dark Hour kick in.

_{Roy-kun, are you awake?}_

_"Yeah, he's up Fuuka."_ Azren responded. _"What's up?"_

_{Um, I'm not sure how to say this, but… You need to go to the fourth floor… and please hurry!}_

I set my pencil down and snapped by sketchbook closed. "Be right there."

* * *

I put my gear on and charged up to the Command Room. Fuuka had Juno active and everyone else was already gathered.

"What's going on?" Yukari asked hurriedly.

"Yamagishi sensed something!" reported Mitsuru. "Other Persona-users. They're outside Tartarus!"

"Other Persona-users…?" Ken began. "Don't tell me it's…"

"…Strega." Akihiko said bitterly. "They're back."

"That's bullshit!" I countered. "Hamuko blasted Gunslinger Hippie off the bridge, and Bombs for brains swan dove after him! We all saw it!"

"First the Dark Hour won't go away, and now Strega is back?" snarled Yukari. "What's happening?"

Aki turned his attention back to Fuuka. "How many are there, Yamagishi?"

_{There's only one, but…}_ she stated, sounding perplexed. _{I thought she was in the hospital…}_

WHAT?

A sudden flash came from Juno, and the Persona shuddered.

_{No… She's…}_ Fuuka began, clutching her head. _{She's inside…}_

Fuuka let out a shriek and fell to her knees inside Juno's bubble.

"Fuuka!" I darted over and kneeled down next to her Persona. "What happened?"

_=Long time no see.=_

Oh hell, no fucking way…

"Chidori?" Junpei stammered.

"She's speaking through Yamagishi?"

_=I can't stand the sigh of you all anymore…=_ Chidori continued. _=So, I've decided to do something about it. Come to me…=_

Fuuka gasped suddenly and let go of her head.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked quickly. She nodded slowly and stood up.

"What the heck…?" exclaimed Yukari. "I thought she was…" I looked back over my shoulder to see Yukari looking at Junpei. "Junpei, do you know what's going on?"

He turned away and didn't answer.

"Junpei!"

"No, damn it!" He snapped, whirling around with one HELL of a death glare. "I have no idea! Just leave me the hell alone!"

Junpei bolted out the door without a moment's hesitation.

"J-Junpei? Junpei, wait!" Yukari called out, moving after him, but stopping once she reached the door. He was likely already down the stairs and heading out through the front of the dorm by now. She sighed, then walked back over to the rest of us.

"This is most likely a trap." began Mitsuru, getting everyone's attention. "But, we're dealing with Strega, so we must pursue this." Her eyes narrowed. "And if we confront them, we may gain some insight into our current situation."

_{Please be careful.}_ Fuuka said weakly. _{I only sensed one person, but the other two may be nearby.}_

Mitsuru looked at me. "We have no idea what they're planning, so choose your allies wisely."

"No time, we're heading out." I stated, starting towards the door. "I'll come up with something on the way."

"Roy-kun, wait!"

"The longer we stand here, the more likely Junpei's gonna get himself in serious trouble!" I snapped, pulling Mjolnir out of its card. "Now c'mon! We have to hurry!"

* * *

Any arguments they may have had at that point died quickly as they joined me in the mad dash to Tartarus. We arrived in time to see Junpei squaring off against Chidori, unarmed.

"Chidori! What's going on? Why are you doing this?" He pleaded. She just sort of stood there and remained silent.

"It doesn't make any sense!" He continued, his posture slackening. "I mean, I know I'm not that smart, and I've done a lot of stupid stuff…" he started moving towards her. "But we shouldn't be fighting like this!"

"Junpei-kun! Look out!"

"WHOA!" Junpei barely managed to sidestep a swing from a chain axe Chidori flicked out of her sleeve at him. "Hey, that was dangerous! You coulda killed someone there!"

She scoffed at him, still holding onto her axe.

"Chidori…!" he pleaded. "Why…?"

"Get back, Junpei!" shouted Akihiko. "It's useless trying to reason with her!"

"But…!"

"No! It's too dangerous!" Fuuka called out. "I know how you feel Junpei-kun, but please, just back up!"

Chidori pulled an evoker out of her other sleeve and pointed it at her head. "Medea…"

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted, charging in and swinging at her with Mjolnir. She leapt backwards to avoid the attack, and now thankfully I'm between her and Junpei. "Hamuko, Aigis, grab Junpei and get back!"

"Fortune, what are you doing!"

"One on one! Fair fight!" I replied, tightening my grip on the hammer.

"I… I don't belong here…" Chidori said somewhat quietly. "I've always known that…"

I didn't get time to ask her what the hell she was on about when purple mist circled her feet and she had her evoker at her head again.

"Come, Medea!" **BANG**

Shards of lavender glass burst from the back of her head as her Persona appeared. It looked like a woman in a skin-tight black bodysuit that turned red staring from a quarter of the way down her limbs with bands of yellow as a transition between the black and red. It had on a somewhat sinister white mask with coarse looking brown hair coming out of the back to about its shoulders, and held a small goblet full of flames in one hand and a dagger in the other.

I'd have been more worried about the giant fireball it threw into my face if I didn't have Uriel as my active Persona because Uriel absorbs fire attacks. With that in mind, I figured fire attacks would be equally useless against her and as such charged at her again and swung away with Mjolnir.

The hammer connected with her stomach and she flew backwards, landing heavily on her back. I heard Junpei shouting angrily, but he stopped when Chidori merely stood back up like it was nothing.

"Takaya was right…" She growled, readying her evoker again. "You're a nuisance!" **BANG**

Medea appeared again and threw more flames that did nothing to me outside of distract me long enough for Chidori to rush in and slash at me with her axe. As I quickly dodged around her attacks I realized a big fucking hammer is a really stupid weapon against someone with an axe on a chain and put Mjolnir back into its card before getting out the claws. I caught her axe's blade in one hand, then channeled a Chain Hit down my arm before I punched her in the face, again sending her flying back. Unfortunately I failed to keep a good grip on her axe, so she still had it as she stood up again, rubbing a cut on her face that quickly vanished flawlessly.

Shit, she's got a Regenerate skill.

"This pain is insignificant…" Chidori said, gripping her axe tightly. "The suffering my heart bears is far greater!"

I dodged another hap-hazard toss of her axe while wondering what the hell she's talking about, then started blocking her wild swings as she furiously slashed at me. I can't tell if she's serious or not, but her attacks are easy to counter or just outright avoid. I didn't spend too much time wondering because I switched to Norn to channel Mind Charge before Evoking it to blast Chidori with a Panta Rhei.

The end result sent Chidori sliding along the ground towards the front of Tartarus, possibly unconscious. It didn't last long, because she rose up to her knees.

"Why?" She demanded. "Why won't you leave me alone? I just don't get it, Junpei…"

"Chidori!"

As if on cue, the man himself surged past me and ran over to her, trying to help her up. Gotta wonder how he got out of Aigis' death grip.

"I told you…" She snarled. "Don't touch me…"

"Chidori, please…" pleaded Junpei as the rest of us approached. "Tell me why you're doing this…"

She hesitated for a moment, then turned her head away from him. "What I fear most isn't death. What I fear most is… attachment." Junpei's expression shifted into confusion. "Once I become attached to something, I fear that I will lose it. That's why we only live for the moment…" Chidori slowly started turning her head to look at him. "But you… you brought me pain… pain that I didn't want… pain that I never asked for…"

Junpei blinked dumbly. "Huh…?"

"When I'm with you, Junpei, I fear everything…" She continued. "I fear loss… I fear death…" A tear rolled down her cheek. "I fear that my time with you will end… that's why I…"

"Chidori…?"

Fuuka shifted next to me. "I'm sensing…"

"What? What is it?" asked Mitsuru.

"It's the others from Strega!"

WHAT.

A loud sigh drew our attention to the entrance of Tartarus.

Takaya and Jin were standing there, glaring at the scene before them.

"So then…" Ken began.

"There you are, you sons of bitches!" Akihiko snapped.

"Bastards…" cursed Hamuko.

"Chidori… I see that it is too late." sighed Revolver Anti-Christ. "You've been poisoned by them…"

"What the hell does that mean, you friggin' ghost?" yelled Junpei, moving slightly closer to Chidori.

Takaya laughed. "I am no ghost… Fate permitted me to live, even though I wasn't attached to life…" He grinned. "You might say I was… chosen."

"Like hell fate saved your ass!" I barked. "You just got lucky!"

"You bastard…" snarled Junpei. "I've made up my mind! I won't let you do this to her anymore! I'll protect Chidori with my life!"

Chidori blinked. "Jun… pei…?"

He turned his gaze back to her. "Chidori, don't stay with them! Come with me!"

Takaya started laughing and then… _Oh **HELL **NO_.

"Look out, Junpei!"

"MOVE!"

**BANG**

**

* * *

**

"What the…?"

"Roy-kun!" "Roy!" "Fortune!" "Roy-san!"

Fucking ow… My arm…

"Jun… pei…"

"Junpei!"

As quickly as I could manage, I pushed myself upright. Pain shot through my left arm, and I grunted as I got to one knee. Junpei was next to me, clutching the left side of his chest, a couple inches diagonal from his shoulder.

"Roy…?" He coughed. "What… the hell…?"

Blood was spreading on his shirt. I looked at where I was grabbing my left arm and there was a rapidly diminishing wound on it visible through a small tear in the sleeve of my jacket.

"Armor piercing bullets…" I spat, moderately thankful I still had Norn active. "You gotta be fucking kidding me…"

"Junpei…!" Chidori shoved her way past me and put her hands on his shoulder, then Medea appeared out of a small burst of purple mist. A gold light swept over my best friend, then he suddenly gasped and sat upright.

His wound was gone.

_'What the fuck…? That bullet had to have torn through his lung! What'd she do?'_

"Junpei-kun!" "Junpei!"

He blinked, and looked at the hole in his shirt, still ringed with blood. "I…"

"It worked…" Chidori sighed, leaning on him tiredly.

"How did she…?" asked Hamuko.

"Her power is the opposite of mine." Fuuka began suddenly. "Her Persona doesn't sense life; it emits life…"

"Then, what'd she do…?" asked Yukari.

It clicked in my head. "She healed him… That bullet had to have gone through his lung, but she fixed him up right as rain…"

"Chidori…?" Junpei asked slowly, looking at the tired girl clinging to him.

"I can hear the life pulsing through you…" She chuckled. She looks tired as hell. Junpei looks confused as hell.

I don't blame him, so am I.

"What a pity…" Takaya said, reminding us he existed. "All your meaningless act has done is delayed your demise…"

Chidori and Junpei froze. I felt the air starting to heat up. Oh fuck, switching to Uriel!

"Meaningless…?" the both asked at once, standing up.

In a flourish, both of them were glaring in the direction of Takaya and Jin, a whirlwind of blue mist encircling them.

"PERSONA!"

**BANG**

Hermes and Medea appeared, with Hermes seemingly injured and being supported by Chidori's Persona.

_**'I am thou… and thou art I…'**_

The two Personae turned their heads towards Strega.

_**'From the sea of thine soul, the unity of thine hearts calls forth new power…'**_

A massive pillar of fire enveloped Hermes and Medea. It died down after a few moments, leaving two new Personae in their place. The new form of Hermes resembled his previous state, albeit red in color with longer legs and a sort of bird-like helmet holding a ruby in its beak. In place of Medea was an elegant, dark grey skinned woman in a dark red dress with gold flame patterns at the base with a grey belt around the waist. She also wore a knee-length orange robe that wouldn't look out of place on a mage character in a fantasy setting. Replacing the mask Medea had was a more slender masquerade-style mask that only covered her eyes instead of her entire head, and her dark brown hair was styled similarly to Chidori's own. In her left hand she held a long, black staff with a lantern at one end with an eternally burning flame within. The opposite end of the staff had what resembled the knife Medea held on it.

_**'Hermes has given rise to Trismegistos, and Medea has given rise to Thea!'**_

Trismegistos stood on his own and flexed his arm, looking at Thea. The two nodded, then turned their attention to Strega, who were likely shitting bricks.

_"BURN IN HELL!"_ screamed Chidori and Junpei, their Personae responding in kind by launching a hellish blaze at Takaya and Jin.

I couldn't exactly see what happened, but I heard Jin scream in agony. I have no idea how, but I think those two hit him with so much fire his Persona couldn't repel all of it.

Once I could see again, Junpei and Chidori were on their knees again, leaning on each other. I think Chidori passed out, actually.

"I…" Junpei snarled between gasps. "I refuse to… ugh…" he collapsed further, barely managing to support himself and Chidori.

"Junpei!" The others ran over and surrounded him and Chidori.

"My…" Began Takaya, drawing my attention. "That was quite a spectacle." He started reaching for his revolver again. "Now, allow me to-"

**'Silence.'**

Takaya's arm stopped before he'd fully pulled out his weapon. He slowly turned his head to see one very large revolver aimed at him.

"Hey Reaper." I greeted, standing up. My arm still hurts like hell, but I can move it a little. "How's it going?"

**'I came to see what the disturbance outside my domain was.'**

"Blame the two assholes infront of you." I stated. "They started this whole thing."

The Reaper's lone eye looked in my direction. **'Are they not your allies?'**

"Hell no!" I barked. "Bastards have been trying to kill us for months. I'd actually appreciate it if you'd get rid of 'em. And if you don't mind, leave the one without a shirt alive enough so I can kill him myself when my arm's not screwed up, please."

**'I would be more then willing.'** Stated the Master of Tartarus. **'Such garbage is not welcome in my domain.'**

"I don't think so!" Jin shouted, throwing something at the Reaper. It impacted, then a massive cloud of smoke appeared.

"Wait!" Junpei shouted, but he couldn't get up, and it's not like we could see anything at the moment.

**'Pathetic vermin…' **growled the Reaper as the smoke cleared. **'They fled.'**

"Don't worry about it…" I said. "It's not that big a deal at the moment."

The Reaper looked at me, then nodded. **'Very well. I shall see you again, human.'**

He vanished back into Tartarus as Akihiko helped Junpei up while Aigis carried Chidori.

"Chidori…" Junpei murmured, gazing at the unconscious girl in Aigis' arms. "I swear… I'll protect you…"

He passed out as well after that. I sighed, then slung his other arm over my shoulder while Aki held onto the other one.

"C'mon guys…" I said tiredly. "Let's get these two home. We can figure it all out in the morning."

Murmurs of agreement and nods were all I got in reply. I just sighed, then lead the march back to the SEES dorm.

* * *

Author Notes - And so Chidori lives, and gets a resolution of her own. Please, share your thoughts on this turn of events. Also, yes, the color of the mist and glass when Chidori evoked Medea is important. Have fun trying to figure out why. :D

That aside, I'd like to apologize for how rushed this chapter seems. It's honeslty because there's almost NOTHING ELSE to work with during this point in the game with the script, which is really the only flaw in Persona 3's awesome. BUT! The Mitsuru Social Link is coming up soon, so there's gonna be more of that to use to fill out some space real soon. I also apologize for the shortness of the Kyoto trip, I really couldn't think of ways to expand upon it, and I apologize. So yeah, drop reviews 'n stuff if you wanna. I've got more chapters to work on. Laters!


	44. Origin of Strega and Moonlight Despair

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash** - Never read the manga and was never especially interested in the execution, so I probably won't look into it. And the thing about the purple mist will be explained in this chapter. I'm also glad you liked the Resolutions for her and Junpei, and the 'When Worlds Collide' One-shot. :D

**Overlord Duelist** - I have further plans for Azren. Whether or not Panta Rhei is involved in them is not something I'm going to spoil. And in responce to your review of 'When Worlds Collide', as much as I didn't WANT to talk about it, I may as well come clean and admit yes, I am going to make a The Answer fic set in the AFNF-verse. Feel free to have your mind rupture from the suspence behind that statement, just be sure to get your head fixxed when you're done. And like I said to Astrih, I'm gonna reveal the Chidori stuff in this chapter.

**Despair's Cold Edge **- Not really card bullets, but yeah, Hamuko was shooting Ryoji with Heat Riser bullets. Still funny. And I'm glad you approve of me keeping Chidori alive. I really didn't like how she died in the story because of Junpei's reaction to it. At least up until he fucking Agidyne'd Jin, the DUDE WHO REPELS FIRE ATTACKS, in the FACE and actually HURT HIM. That was awesome. And yeah, like I said in the author notes for 'When Worlds Collide', I was debating Roy x Fuuka or Roy x Aigis as I was getting through Fuuka's social link. Aigis clearly won out in the end, but I would totally pair Fuuka up with Minato if given the chance. Fuuka is adorable and she needs more love, damn it!

**Fanfic Reader Guy **- I know I don't HAVE to rush, but I just like getting things done. And at this point, with the story so slow to move, I really, REALLY just wanna get on with it. Then again, seeing as how my birthday was on the 8th(I'm now officially 20) I took some time off working on the story to relax and play Dragon Age 2(fucking awesome game). And to respond to your review of my one-shot, Takaya only tried to kill Ken because Ken said he was the Scanner for SEES. Now, seeing as how in the alt-verse Ria Fortune(aka AFNF FeMC) comes from had her solving the October 4th crisis BEFORE the actual day, Takaya wouldn't have found Shinji and Ken in the back alley and likely would've gone straight after SEES. After they killed the Shadows, he probably would've made a move to shoot Fuuka after she dispelled Lucia. Minato would've saved her from the attack and thus left Takaya to run from his life before Ria and Shinji tried to tear his spine out and beat him to death with it. And yeah, Minato sleeping on the train during the Arcana Priestess battle(at least until SEES shows up and starts blowing up Shadows) is made of lolz.

**Justhere21 **- ...Wow. Just... wow, man. I'm glad you like Roy. Honestly, his thought process is similar to mine in a few ways so basicly what you're reading is pretty close to how things would look if I was in his place. I'm amazed you think I've really made Roy feel human. And there's a reason the scenes with Roy getting emotional work well. That reason is my own mental state. I'm a very emotionally 'extreme' person, so to speak. I'm either mostly neutral or on an extreme end of the emotional spectrum, from sadness to anger to happyness to basicly everything else. I feel like that reflects in my writing, because I'm feeling what the character is feeling. When Roy's angry, I'm angry. When he's sad, I'm sad. When he's feeling like a snarky lunatic, so am I.

As for the cameo by the Persona 4 story Protaganist, I can't say if it's Souji or not. It would ruin the surprise, but I can say that I was deciding between Souji or an OC named Rusei Norimoto, and both characters have grey hair(Rusei's is a few shades darker then Souji's is), so it could go either way as far as you know(but I have chosen one of them). With Hamuko, I decided early on I wanted to have Shinjiro live, but I didn't feel like it would work well if Roy was the reason. And seeing as how I auto-pair Hamuko & Shinjiro in my head, I went with that. Plus it's a chance to see her when she's NOT got the SEES spotlight as the resident Wild Card and is just another party member. Gives room to expand her character a little, ya know?

Shade... Heh, well, Shade was actually an idea I came up with litterally as I was re-writing the begining of the story(from the Pre-Arcana Magician Attack on the SEES Dorm to a few days after Fuuka's rescue) once I got to the Monorail Operation. At first, it was going to be Orpheus talkin' in Roy's head, but I don't really like Orpheus that much. He looks cool, yeah, but he doesn't really fit as Roy's Persona. So I came up with Shade, aka Shadow Roy. It just struck me as logical that, if the Protaganist is a Wild Card, why wouldn't his Shadow be effected by it? And thus Shade came to be. And, contrary to what you're thinking, Roy never actually fully accepted Shade up until the Ikutsuki thing went down. Roy was rejecting his faults, but he still accepted that they were there, which left Shade to form as basicly a half-Shadow, half-Persona. As the story progressed, eventually Roy began rejecting himself more and more, which caused Shade to get pissed. Now, think about the Tower link. Think about the Arcana itself and look at all the times it ranked up. Every time it did, it was because Roy's expectations came crashing down. He didn't expect to get lectured by the Reaper, much less three times. He didn't expect to fall in love with Aigis. He didn't expect Fuuka to yell at him. He didn't expect the Dark Hour to still be around. And he sure as hell didn't expect to face himself that night. Shade's whole 'I am a Shadow, the true self' speech was something I was basicly building up to the very moment he was officially introduced as something other then a voice in Roy's head. And yeah, Roy just going 'So What?' speaks alot about how strong he is mentally because he was basicly accepting his faults without question.

And seriously, I'm glad you like the social links and love interest choice for Roy. Hell, your entire review basicly makes me think you're calling me 'Persona Fanfiction Jesus' or something, especially how you're calling this the best P3 fic you've ever read. But, in regards to your request about the ending, I'm afraid I might disappoint you with my plans for it. HOWEVER, if things dont' go the way I have them intended to, then it forces me to completely redo a large part of the AFNF version of The Answer, and even stuff connected to the P4 Story. Yes, even the P4 story would be effected. I will now let you all speculate until you go crosseyed, then laugh and speculate even more until I actually get to that part of the P4 Story. You'll be pleasently surprised with it, methinks. But just to ease your fears, the ending regarding the defeat of Nyx will be different from the norm by, hopefully, quite a bit. You'll just have to wait and see like everyone else.

NOW THEN, before the the chapter begins, I have to warn you all. This chapter and the next one are going to be... well... they're not gonna be pretty, so bear with me, okay? With that out of the way, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I'm glad we have Monday off, otherwise Junpei would get an earful from Ms. Toriumi. The dude was practically comatose. Chidori was much the same, and we put her in the room that used to be Ikutsuki's on the fourth floor due to lack of any other place for her to sleep. Once they were in bed, we all hit the sack ourselves. I woke up kinda early by my own standards, then headed downstairs to make some breakfast after I got dressed 'n stuff. Felt like scrambling up a bunch of eggs again, and I made enough for a lot of people. Junpei usually eats as much as a small sports team, and I kinda doubt Chidori's had anything better to eat then hospital food for like, three months. I seriously hope they don't ship her back there, or Junpei's gonna mope a lot, and that's gonna suck.

Regardless, it is statistically impossible to cook anything in this dorm without someone other then Koromaru noticing, and I soon head someone descending the stairs.

"Ah man, what smells good…?" Hey, it's Junpei! Guess the smell of food woke him from his coma. "Whoa, hey Roy! What cha' makin'?"

"Eggs." I replied. "And they put Chidori in Ikutsuki's old room up on the fourth floor, in case you're wondering."

"How's she doin'?"

I shrugged. "Hell if I know." I slid a bunch of eggs onto a couple plates. "Why don't you go take her some breakfast and check on her?"

He grinned and grabbed a couple forks from a drawer, then snatched up the plates before he cautiously hurried up the stairs. I chuckled to myself.

_"He's lucky to be alive, ya know?" _Azren commented. "_If you hadn't tackled him, Takaya's shot might've gone through his stomach or even his heart. And think about Chidori after she fixed that hole in his shoulder. She looked tired as hell. It's entirely possible she would've pulled an Edward Elric and given up her life to bring him back using whatever let her fix him. Then SHE'D be dead, Junpei would be a black hole of depression and angst, and you'd likely be making a puppet out of Takaya's head right now instead of cooking eggs."_

"A Takaya's Head hand puppet would be hilarious." I grinned. Sometimes I get the most violent ideas at the weirdest of times. I blame Uncle Shane. "But yeah, you're right. Junpei's a lucky bastard." I glanced over at Azren, who was lazily floating next to the fridge. "How quickly do you think Chidori will warm up to us?"

He shrugged._ "Not a clue, but I wouldn't go out of your way to try talking to her. Let her do it at her own pace."_

"Erright." I mumbled.

* * *

The rest of SEES awoke from their hibernation sooner then I expected due to Junpei running up three flights of stairs with two plates of freshly cooked eggs, which left me to make breakfast for everybody. Not that I minded, really. I just wish we had some bacon to fry up as well like that time before Yakushima.

"So…" I began after I finished my plate of eggs. "What're we gonna do with Chidori?"

Cue slightly awkward silence.

"…I suppose…" Mitsuru began uneasily. "She'll remain here…"

"So we can keep an eye on her, right?" asked Yukari.

Azren groaned loudly, then started trying, and failing, to beat his head against a wall. I was half tempted to join him.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Aki.

"Yukari's lack of grasp on Chidori's situation." I stated. "Now, think about how long we had her in the hospital. Almost three months, and at any point in time Jin and Takaya could've busted her out, instead of just the night before last."

"Night before…?" Aki began, then he got it. "You think that explosion at the hospital was their cover for getting her out?"

"Most likely." I nodded. "Jin has grenades after all. With that in mind, they waited until after their own supposed demise on the Moonlight Bridge before they made any sort of move to rescue her, despite them being at a loss without her scanning ability, which is why Takaya tried to kill Ken, who'd told him he was our scanner, leading to Shinjiro taking a couple bullets for him." Hamuko flinched. "Sorry. Anyways, she was probably glad to see they hadn't forgotten about her when they finally did bust her out. Now, take into account how things went down at Tartarus. Junpei got their first and tried to talk her down, only to fail at it just as we arrived."

I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair. "Then I got into a short brawl where she shrugged off not only getting hit in the stomach by Mjolnir, but a punch straight to her face and, to a lesser extent, a damn-near point-blank Mind Charged Panta Rhei. Then Junpei swooped in to try and talk her down again, this time succeeding. However, then Revolver Anti-Christ and his Mad Bomber buddy waltz out of Tartarus and say 'you've been poisoned' before he tries to, in my opinion, KILL Junpei. With Armor Piercing Bullets, I might add." And I'm still pissed there's a tear in my jacket because of it. Prick.

"How can you be sure he was trying to kill Junpei-san?" asked Ken.

"Takaya is practical like that." I grunted. "And because it's what I'd have done in his position. Take a chance to weaken those who oppose me by killing one of them." I sighed. "Anyways, like I'm sure most of you have no doubt noticed or figured out by now, Junpei has a thing for Chidori. And it's not a little thing, either. You all heard him. He was prepared to die for her right then and there. Still would, I'd wager." I shifted in my seat. "Same could likely be said of Chidori. Now, with all of that in mind, let's look at this from Chidori's perspective."

I leaned forward with my elbows on the table, resting my chin on my interlaced fingers.

"You've been abandoned by probably the only two people in the world you trust and been stuck in a hospital getting routinely interrogated by a scary redheaded lady and her grey haired pal who is, every time you see him, wearing an expression hard enough that you could use it to break concrete." And now Mitsuru and Aki are glaring at me.

"Then that oddball dude who talked to you down at Port Island Station keeps showing up and talks to you and is much nicer about it then the other two have been. The other two stop dropping by as much, but oddball shows up more. And you start enjoying him showing up. Then you find out that, supposedly, your two closest friends are dead and the Dark Hour's not gone. And then it starts hurting you inside whenever oddball shows up, so you tell him to stop. He doesn't."

"Soon after, your pals, back from the dead, come bust you out of that damn hospital." I continued. "You resolve to deal with your problems, let them know, then get oddball and his friends to come to Tartarus to have a showdown. They show up and a dude wearing a black hat and maroon jacket starts fighting you while some of the other people keep oddball from jumping in as well. Hat dude beats you down, then oddball breaks loose and starts asking why. You tell him, then your friends come out of hiding in the big tower behind you."

I leaned my head forward. "Then they tell you 'you're poisoned' and one goes to shoot oddball. Hat dude intervenes and oddball doesn't get a bullet through his heart, instead causing an equally fatal but slower to actually kill him wound in his chest. You see him struggling to breathe, and you realize you can help him. You want to help him. You finally understand why it hurt so much to see him. So you help him, betraying your friends. Then one of them calls what you did meaningless. You don't take kindly to that. Not at all."

"Then you and oddball stand up and roast one of them." Hamuko added. "Specifically, the one who repels any sort of fire thrown at him."

"Just to prove a point?" Yukari asked.

I shook my head. "Nah, you were aiming for the prick who shot oddball. The fire-proof dude just decided to get in the way."

Everybody got quiet again at that point.

"Wait…" Akihiko began suddenly. "What about the mist?"

_"What mist?"_ Hey, Azren's done trying to beat his head on a wall.

"From when Chidori summoned her Persona." Aki explained. "It was purple."

"That's right…" nodded Fuuka. "But, why?"

"That's a good question." chimed in Ken. "When Takaya summoned his Persona on the bridge, the mist was red."

"Jin's was like that as well."

"The same was true for Ikutsuki's Persona." Aigis added grimly.

"And when we summon our Personas, the mist is blue…" noted Mitsuru. "Except in Fortune's case, where it's fire instead of mist."

Fire instead of mist… ours is blue… wait a second… "Didn't Takaya talk about 'the power of those whose personas awaken naturally' right before Hamuko knocked him off the bridge?"

"Yeah." she nodded. "And Jin said that for them, their power has to be 'forced' out."

"Okay, so if a 'natural' persona causes blue mist when it's summoned…" I began. "And a 'forced' Persona causes red mist…"

Mitsuru's eyes widened. "Then her persona is somewhere in between the two states…"

"Not anymore." I stated. "The mist that appeared when Chidori's Persona resolved with Junpei's was pure blue. There was no purple mixed in, but you're right. She was between 'natural' and 'forced'."

"How would that even work?" asked Yukari. "I mean, shouldn't it be one or the other?"

_"Probably, but here's what I'm thinking." _Azren piped up. _"Chidori had the potential to begin with, but it wasn't strong enough for her to be in the Dark Hour. Then she got caught up in whatever caused Jin and Takaya's Personae to become forced out and it caused her natural Persona to appear before it would've if she'd been left alone."_

"Then what about her resolution?"

"Only semi-logical thing I can think of is that her fragile state of mind is what kept her Persona in its weird half-natural, half-forced state." I commented. "Then when Junpei shouted about protecting her and he almost died, she got her head on straight and her Persona responded in kind by resolving naturally."

"I see…" Mitsuru said with a thoughtful nod. "I'll have Persona experts from the Kirijo Group look into that theory."

"No point." I grunted. "The theory came from an actual Persona, which would logically put him high on the list of people who know what the hell they're talking about. Besides, we might be able to ask Chidori about it. If not directly, then through Junpei."

A few of the others winced.

"Roy-kun, I don't think Chidori-san would want to talk about that…" said Fuuka.

I winced as well. "Good point. Should've thought about that more before I said it out loud."

* * *

After I succeeded in making a bit of an ass of myself, Junpei showed up and was officially given permission from Mitsuru to keep tabs on Chidori here at the dorm instead of go to career experience like the rest of us. The fact he got shot and nobody was quite sure if whatever Chidori did to fix him caused side effects was also a factor, so the official story is going to be that he was sick if anyone asks.

He's a lucky bastard if you ask me, because I somehow got shafted working in a god damn warehouse with a metric assload of boxes to carry around for three days. Granted, it was a small warehouse and all the boxes were cardboard, but it still fucking sucked. On another noted, I did some mythos searching about Trismegistos and Thea, the two newest Personae at the SEES dorm. Trismegistos' name means 'thrice-great' and is a fusion of Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Because of that, he's a smart dude and, on one website, was noted as the version of Hermes most strongly associated with the Magician Arcana. I can only wonder if this means Junpei might make the top three in class on the next test.

Thea, on the other hand, was kind of hard to find info on. Best I found was she's the wife of Hyperion in the greek mythos and is actually an ancestor of Medea, who betrayed her father after she fell in love with Jason of the Argonauts and, after doing some really horrible stuff, left on the chariot of Helios, who was a sun-god Thea gave birth to. The only other stuff I found was that Thea was considered very beautiful and is 'the goddess from whom light emanates', which leads me to suspect Thea might have Hama skills on top of the can of firey asswhoop she's already got. Kinda makes me wonder how Chidori fares in combat when she's not stressed out and confused.

Speaking of which, Chidori's mostly been keeping to herself the entire time she's been here. Only ones a the dorm she'll talk to are Junpei and, surprisingly, Koromaru. I swear, that dog is a chick magnet and he fucking KNOWS IT. That or Chidori just likes dogs. It really wouldn't surprise me.

I found what I assumed to be a rare sight when I got home from school on the twenty-eighth; Chidori quietly sketching in the lounge by herself. Must've gone out to get some other clothes with Junpei or something, because I don't recognize the outfit she's wearing as belonging to anyone here at the dorm. It's a long-ish very light grey skirt and a pale orange shirt. Her hair's also completely loose, without the weird knife thing stuck in the back of it like usual. She glanced over at me, then returned her attention to her artwork. Out of a sort of habit, I had my own sketchbook with me, but since I didn't feel like Art Club today, it's just sitting my bag. So I shrugged to myself, then flopped down on the sofa opposite Chidori, pulled out my sketchpad, and started drawing for the hell of it.

"…You draw?"

Well hey, she's actually talking to me. "Yeah, sometimes. Would've gone to art club today but just didn't feel like it."

She hummed once in response, then the room was quiet save for the sounds of pencils moving across paper.

"So how's Thea?" I asked, not looking up from my paper. Drawing Junpei epicly posing with Trismegistos right now. It's hard to get those weird wing things he's got right.

"…She's fine." Chidori replied, slightly hesitantly.

"Not used to having her talking to you in your head yet, are ya?"

She was silent, but I caught a glimpse of her nodding.

"Everybody gets that." I told her. "Me? I get worse."

I heard her stop sketching. "Worse?"

_"Yo." _Azren said, appearing out of thin air. _"He means me."_

I stopped drawing and sighed. I looked up at Chidori, and she looked like she had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Meet Azren." I told her. "He's basicly my equivalent of Thea, except I've gotten so comfortable with him that he can manifest outside the Dark Hour on his own."

She seemed even more confused.

"You're wondering how that's possible when I summoned that clock thing to blast you with a tornado the other day, right?" I asked. She did a sort of small nod. "Well, among Persona-users, I'm what's called a Wild Card. In simple terms, it means I can have multiple Personae in my head apart from Azren. Those other 'sonas, however, are not a part of me like he is, so I can't really use them for anything other then using skills Azren doesn't have."

"…I see…" She commented slowly. "Takaya did warn me to be wary of you…"

"I wish you could've seen the look on his face after you and Junpei blasted Jin that night." I told her. "He was about to start shooting again when the Reaper, better known as the Master of Tartarus, showed up and held a revolver with a barrel the length of MY ARM to his head." I chuckled. "It was priceless."

"Takaya doesn't fear death."

"Yeah, but I asked the Reaper to not kill him. Maiming him horribly, on the other hand, was still very viable and likely." I grinned. "Speaking of which, if he shows up again, would you be opposed to us holding him down while Junpei sets his head on fire?"

"No." She replied instantly before she resumed sketching.

I bobbed my head and went back to work on my own drawing. "Good to know."

* * *

The two of us just kept sketching quietly, occasionally pausing to pet Koromaru on the head when he strolled over to us. Eventually more of the others started showing up, and Chidori just silently ignored them even as they expressed surprise. Granted, Chidori likely didn't notice the surprise on their faces because she didn't look at them, but I did.

After I think everyone was back, Mitsuru called a big meeting up on the fourth floor. Chidori was invited by virtue of it happening right outside her room.

"Is everyone here?" She asked from what used to be Ikutsuki's spot. Junpei, Chidori, Fuuka and Akihiko were seated on the couch while Yukari, Hamuko, and Ken were on the stool things, leaving me, Koromaru, and Aigis just sorta standing around. I really don't mind. Once Mitsuru finished scanning the room for everyone, she nodded. "Then let's begin the meeting." She turned to look at Chidori. "Chidori."

"So we're not even gonna beat around the bush and just get straight to the burning questions, huh?" I asked with a sigh. "Alright then, let's start off with something simple. How'd you meet Takaya and Jin?"

Chidori shifted in her seat slightly. "…Takaya saved me."

That raised a few eyebrows.

"From what?" Yukari asked.

Chidori fidgeted again. "The experiments."

Junpei's face became a few shades lighter. "What experiments?"

"…They kidnapped us." She began. "We were orphans off the street with nothing. Then one night, they come for us. They put sacks over our heads and took us away. All three of us where from different places." She fidgeted again. "We met in the cramped room they let us sleep in at the Kirijo Lab."

"What?" Mitsuru's eyes were wide.

"Let her finish." I said quickly, holding up a hand in an attempt to keep Mitsuru from flying off the handle. It worked.

"At first, we had no idea what was going on." Chidori continued. "But they kept pulling us out of the rooms for 'tests', never telling us what for. They'd poke at you with needles and things or give you pills. Sometimes others who were taken wouldn't come back." She shivered. "We were never told what happened to them. Eventually, we started experiencing the Dark Hour. Then came the shadows. They'd pit us against ones they had and we had to kill it or be killed. That was when I first summoned Medea."

"It got worse after that." She told us. "I was different from the others. They needed special pills very frequently to keep their personas from killing them. I didn't need them nearly as often, and they wanted to find out why."

"It was because of the purple mist, right?" I asked.

She seemed surprised, but nodded. "I heard them talking about it once. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen, apparently. My healing ability surprised them as well."

"Is that how your wounds vanished without scars?" Aki asked. "And how you healed Junpei?"

Chidori nodded again. "They called it the 'Spring of Life'. It didn't matter how badly they injured me, I was always fine within several hours."

"So how did Takaya 'save' you?"

"It was near the end of the experiments." She stated in response to Junpei's question. "By that point, the only ones still alive were myself, Jin, and Takaya. One day, they suddenly grabbed all three of us and threw us out of the building with a single bottle of pills. As they were taking us out, one of the scientists was ranting about 'the Strega project being a complete failure'. Once we were outside, Jin asked what we were going to do. He and Takaya were already close by that point. Then Takaya told us about how he overheard a scientist talking about another 'test subject' dieing due to the pills we had to take. We didn't know how to react and panicked. But not Takaya." Chidori shook her head lightly. "No, he didn't panic at all. I asked him why, and he said 'We are three with a unique gift, and are destined to die. So why worry about the future? The moment is all we have, and I intend to live each moment to its fullest.'"

"And at the time, that sounded like the best possible idea for what to do?" I asked.

She nodded. "We stuck together after that. After a few weeks, we started running out of the pills. We had no idea how to get more. Then, I suppose we got lucky."

Hamuko raised an eyebrow. "Lucky how?"

"We met an odd man with glasses one night." Chidori explained. "He recognized the pills we were taking, and said he could get us more, provided we could pay. I had no idea how, but Takaya and Jin came up with something quickly."

"The revenge request website." stated Ken.

Again, Chidori nodded. "At first, we went around asking people. Then we used the Dark Hour to carry out the executions. One of the first we did was where Takaya got his gun and used it to kill the target. I didn't do anything directly, I was just there to patch them up if they got injured."

"And thus you had a somewhat steady flow of money to get more pills." Mitsuru said grimly. "But, who was selling them to you? They were made by the Kirijo Group, but were supposed to have been disposed of long ago after they found the side-effects…"

"We don't know how Ikutsuki got them."

_"WHAT?"_ Azren bellowed. Probably channeled a Garudyne, too, because I felt a god damn BREEZE. _"You knew that backstabbing sack of shit?"_

Chidori was surprised. "How do you know Ikutsuki?"

"You know that room you're staying in?" I asked. "That was his room when he was still in charge of SEES. That kind of changed the night after the full moon this month when he revealed it was all part of his plan to bring about the end of the god damn world and I put a bullet through his head."

Chidori scowled. "So that would mean he was manipulating you all, as well as Takaya and Jin. He told us one day that he found out you were out to get rid of the Dark Hour, and Takaya didn't like that."

"I can imagine." Aki grunted bitterly. "But now I know how Shinji was getting those pills…"

Oh son of a bitch, Akihiko, did you HAVE to bring those up?

"What pills?" Hamuko asked instantly. Aki realized his mistake and started sweating bullets. "Akihiko-senpai, what are you talking about?"

"Well, FUCK." I sighed. "I was really hoping to avoid having this discussion, but now there's no way in hell we can get around it."

"Get around WHAT?" growled Hamuko. Oh fuck, the air's getting colder. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Err…" I stammered, only to suddenly find myself stuck to the ceiling. And my hands are cold. "GAH! Hamuko, calm down!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" She snapped. The air's STILL GETTING **COLDER**.

"If you'd stop trying to start the next ice age in our dorm for five seconds, I'll tell you!" I countered.

_"Hot body, cold mind."_ Azren said aloud. _"A deadly combination."_

"You said that about Mitsuru once." I pointed out, still stuck to the ceiling.

Azren just shrugged. _"That I did, and it's still true. It just applies to Hamuko as well."_

"Yeah, yeah. Now can someone get me down before my hands get frostbite? It's hard to explain while you're stuck to the fucking _CEILING_."

"I got yah…" Junpei sighed, tossing a few fireballs at my arms and legs. It was a resounding success, but unfortunately Hamuko stuck me right above the table, so I had to catch myself with Garu channeling, leaving me floating about an inch above it, Mission Impossible style.

"…So this is what it's like to be Tom Cruise." I commented before I floated enough to where I could actually stand up. "Anyways, here's the thing, Hamuko. You know those pills Chidori mentioned? The ones for suppressing Personas?" She nodded. "Shinjiro was taking them."

Her eyes widened. "What…?"

"WAS taking them." I said. "Apparently he stopped before he came back to the SEES dorm, but it was too late to keep them from killing him." I frowned. "Of course, when he told me this, he said it was medication for some disease that was gonna kill him anyways, and all the pills were doing was basicly making it take longer to kill him. He also told me that Chidori had the same illness, and he was sporting a black eye from Akihiko having not been told about the pills sooner back in September. I brought that up to Junpei a couple weeks back, and he told me that Shinjiro said they were pills to control Personae, which Chidori needed to keep her Persona from killing her. I went to Aki about it, and HE told me the pills were still fatal."

Hamuko's hands were balled into fists. "…Why didn't you tell me?"

"What the hell was I supposed to say?" I snapped. "'Don't worry about his coma, he's gonna kick the bucket any day now anyways'?"

"What are you talking about?" Chidori asked.

That drew my attention. "Oh god, what now? He's not gonna turn into a monster or something on top of all that, is he?"

"No, why would he die?" she asked. "His Persona isn't like Takaya's or Jin's."

_"What." _Azren said flatly.

"For people like them, the pills are fatal…" Chidori began. "But to people with natural personas, they're not."

Eyebrow. "How do you know?"

She turned her head towards Junpei slightly. "Thea is telling me. She remembers how they effected her when I took my regular dose a few days ago, and from before that night…"

"How'd they effect her?" asked Junpei.

"When she was still Medea, they calmed her, but she felt strange. Tired." Chidori told us. "When I took them a few days ago, she panicked."

Mitsuru raised her own eyebrow. "Panicked?"

Chidori nodded. "She screamed in fear that she could feel her will being pulled out of her. I haven't taken any more since then."

Will being…?

_"Castor!" _Azren proclaimed loudly. _"It's like what was wrong with Castor back when we first met Shinjiro!"_

That confused everyone.

"Okay, by this point, the only person here not aware of my ability to sense Personae and Arcanas is Chidori." I began. "Well, back when Yukari led that really short-sighted expedition of her, Me, and Junpei to the back alley of Port Island Station while Fuuka was still missing where Shinjiro saved our sorry asses, I noticed his Persona was odd. I went to see him the day before we went to rescue Fuuka and had a chat with him, and I really got a feel for his Persona." I shuddered. "It was bizarre. Normal People have a certain feel about them with their Arcana, and the same can be said for Persona users and their Personae. Castor, though? He did not feel right. It was like he was almost an empty shell with no will to do anything. Almost like…" My eyes widened in realization. "Like one of the Lost!"

"WHAT?"

"My god…" I stammered. "How the hell did I not notice that sooner…?"

"You said this was before he returned to the dorm." Mitsuru pointed out. "What about after?"

"After? At that point Castor was back to normal as far as Personas go. Still a little bit off, but nowhere near as bad as before"

"And you said Shinjiro admitted to having stopped taking the pills before he rejoined?"

"Yeah… Why, is that import-" I came upon the realization. "You're thinking that if he hadn't stopped taking the pills, he'd have become one of the lost, aren't you?"

Mitsuru nodded. "It seems to be the most likely scenario. Shadows prey upon peoples minds, turning them into the Lost. People with Personae are immune to this, and Persona is the power of the mind. It's logical to assume that if a Persona becomes one of the Lost, the Persona-user would as well."

"Wait, then that means…" Hamuko began with a steadily brightening expression. "Shinjiro's gonna be okay, right?"

"If this is all true, then yeah." Aki said with a half-hearted, weary smile. "But we still don't know when, or if, he's going to wake up. At the very least, though, we know he's not going to die."

"All that aside…" Yukari piped up. "What're we going to do about the Dark Hour?"

"We'll have our answer on the next full moon."

They all looked at me.

"Azren asked Fuuka for some more details about that rant Ikutsuki went on after I got knocked the fuck out." I said. "Mainly how he talked about a 'Death the almighty'. Now, going by the Arcana Shadows we've been fighting up till this point, Death is the next, and those bastards have been popping up on full moons. I don't wanna get us all up in arms over nothing, though, so let's keep in mind this 'Death' thing might not play by the same rules as the other Shadows. In which case, we're gonna head to Tartarus tomorrow night for some last-minute training in case the bastard shows up." I glanced at Mitsuru quickly, then turned to look at Chidori. "You want to come long?"

She blinked.

"Well we can't leave you here by yourself." I pointed out. "And I really don't see anything wrong with letting you join us in kicking Shadow ass, especially considering what happened."

Chidori looked at me in slight awe for a moment, then down at her feet.

"What's wrong?" Junpei asked worriedly.

"Ever since I gained my power…" She began. "I knew the day I would die. But now… I know that prediction was a lie. I'll live for as long as I want to live." She raised her head to look at me, a fierce look in her eyes. "And I won't let anything take my life away from me. Not after I finally found a reason to hold onto it."

I felt my lips twitch into a grin before I looked at the others. "Any objections?"

They all shook their heads.

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

I looked back at Chidori and held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment, then shook it.

My grin widened. "Welcome to SEES."

* * *

We all went to bed after that, or at least most of us did. I heard Mitsuru stopping Chidori and Junpei as I left the command room. Wonder what that's about. Regardless, school happened the next day. Nothing major, at least not until I bumped into Mitsuru after school.

"Hello, Fortune." She greeted with a small smile. "I've heard a lot of rumors about you recently. You seem to be studying really hard."

I chuckled. "Not really. I just have a good memory."

"Regardless, it's impressive." She winced slightly. "But, try not to stress yourself out."

"Alright, I'll take it easy." I grinned. "It's not that hard."

"By the way, Fortune…"

Eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"I'd like to talk to you about something." She said. "If you don't mind, can you spare some time?"

"Sure thing." I replied instantly.

"Great." Mitsuru smiled uneasily. "…Um, well… Can you come with me? I'd rather not talk about it here."

"Sure." And Azren, I swear to GOD if you open your god damn mouth…

_"I won't, I won't!"_ He said defensively from his perch on my shoulder. _"Geez man, calm down…"_

"Fortune?"

"Nothing to worry about." I told her quickly. "Let's get going…"

* * *

Turns out the place she wanted to go was Hagakure. I haven't been here in a long time.

"Psst… Fortune."

I turned to look at Mitsuru. "Yeah?"

"Please tell me what the etiquette here is." She said. "Are there any customs I need to follow…?"

"If there are, I don't know them." I told her. "But I'd advise you don't take too long to eat the noodles. Don't taste quite as good if you let 'em sit for too long."

She nodded once. "I understand." She sat upright again and took hold of her chopsticks. "Bon appetit!" She paused for a moment. "…Let's eat."

* * *

"Hmm… The taste is quite interesting…" Mitsuru began about twenty minutes later once she'd all by demolished her ramen. "I thought it tasted strange at first, but as I continued to eat, I realized it had a subtle charm to it." She smiled. "It's quite delicious."

"Yeah, good stuff, innit?" I smirked.

"Yes, it is." She looked away from me. "Pardon me, Chef…"

Oh god please tell me she's not…

"Chef?" asked the guy behind the counter. "You talkin' to me?"

She is. Azren, facepalm for me.

_'Way ahead of ya.'_

Good work.

So Mitsuru's talking to the cook about the ramen. She's off on a little tangent about it, too.

"Oh, sorry." She said suddenly, finally remembering I'm here. "My imagination got the best of me. I've been wanting to try ramen for a long time…" She paused and she seemed to panic a teeny bit. "Does that make me strange?"

"If wanting to try ramen makes you strange, then what the hell does that make me?" I asked. "I'm half japanese and I never had an actual bowl of ramen till I came to this country."

Mitsuru giggled at my comment. "I'm glad. I was never able to eat this type of food…" She squirmed slightly in her seat. "And I'm not used to this style of restaurant… I felt extremely awkward coming here alone."

"You could've asked Akihiko." I pointed out.

"True…" She said slowly, looking away from me. Is she blushing? I think she's blushing. "But I'm glad you're here with me. You've taught me much about ramen etiquette."

"Mainly that there isn't any?" I asked.

She laughed. "Indeed. Let's eat here again sometime.

**CRASH**

Hooba jooba wha?

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

Oh right. Never started that one.

"It's getting rather late." Mitsuru commented. "We should go."

"Yeah, we're headin' to Tartarus tonight anyways." I said, standing up. "Let's get a move on, shall we?"

* * *

So we headed back to the dorm and everybody was getting ready. Chidori looked a little out of place due to not having any of the armor thread stuff like the rest of us, but we still had some regular armor for her to use until I rectified that problem.

Once we actually got to Tartarus, I had Junpei, Chidori, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari come along for the first rush. When asked why, I pointed out three of the people in the group had resolved Personae and it's probably best to keep Junpei and Chidori together. Turns out that is a very good idea.

Chidori is a monster with her chain axe, and her Persona is crazy awesome. It's packing some serious, and literal, firepower, on top of both Hama AND Mudo skills, plus it's immune to those same skills AND it ABSORBS fire. We quickly figured out that it's weak to pierce-type Physicals, though, so I tossed her the item I got from Chernobog to solve that problem. Her Spring of Life skill is basicly the same as Norn's Regenerate 3, except quicker to act so Chidori's usually never in a tight spot for very long. Interestingly, her Hama and Mudo spells are the strongest multi-target versions, so she can obliterate entire groups of shadows in a single move if she's not using Mind Charge to burn them to the ground. She's even got Diarahan, so she can heal others as well. The crown jewel for Chidori, though? She's got this skill called Debilitate. It's basicly the -nda version of that Heat Riser skill Hamuko has, and holy FUCK does it weaken stuff.

Mitsuru's new Persona was no slouch either, as it's rocking with the single and multi target versions of Bufudyne now, on top of her Mind Charge and improved healing ability. To put this in perspective, Mitsuru used to throw ice spears at everything. Now she just wills them into existence in a split second to impale the living shit out of everything forever that's not resistant to Ice.

Junpei, on the other hand, proves that he is not to be fucked with ever again. Trismegistos is badass incarnate, and the damn thing moves crazy fast when it attacks. What's more, he somehow got Chidori's Spring of Life skill as well. My guess as to why? Using Spring of Life to heal Junpei used her actual life energy, which would explain why she was tired as hell, and she used enough to cause his Persona to inherit that ability. It's epic, though, because now Junpei's basicly unstoppable unless physical-resistance enemies show up, but then he can just roast them and move on unless they're resistant to fire as well.

First up on the Tartarus Guardian chopping block was this thing called Reckoning Dice. Sadly, this fucker was immune to all magic skills, but Debilitate still worked like a charm so we all ran up into its face and stabbed it to death.

After that, I sent them all back down and had them send up Aigis, Ken, Hamuko, and Koromaru so we could keep going. Turned out to be mostly pointless, though, as we eventually came to the next barrier. I snagged the document, then we headed back down so I could cash in at the Velvet Room.

Got my loot, then called it a night. There was really nothing else for us to do at this point. Barriers fuckin' suck, lemme tell ya.

After school the next day, Mitsuru wanted to hang out again so I ended up going to Wild Duck Burger with her. I swear this place has to be OWNED by McDonalds or they've have gotten fucking sued by now.

"Interesting…" Mitsuru mumbled once we got our food and sat down. "So this is what it looks like inside… It's surprisingly small…"

"First time coming here?" I asked, flipping open the little container my burger came in.

"Technically, yes." She stated. "But, I did pass by here once with Akihiko…"

"Ah." Nom. Say what you will about this place, but they have some good burgers.

"So you really don't eat with utensils here…"

"Nope." I said after I swallowed my food. "That doesn't bother you, does it?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just not very familiar with fast food etiquette." She smiled. "I'm glad you're here with me."

"You're welcome." Nom.

We ate in silence, though Mitsuru was somewhat hesitant to pick up her burger and chow down at first, but after seeing me destroying the one I had, she just rolled with it. Once she was done, she started mumbling to herself about something.

"Somethin' wrong?" I asked.

"Hm?" She looked at me. "…Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought again…"

I shrugged. "It's fine."

"Also…" Mitsuru began. "I didn't ask you here just to eat… I wanted to express my personal thanks to you." She smiled again. "We are all facing a trial, in the true sense of the term… and we've made it this far because we've been blessed with each other."

"Yeah, we have huh?" I mused, bobbing my head a little.

"I admit, I've been hard on you, much more so than the others." I had to suppress my undying urge to scream 'I KNEW IT' at the top of my lungs at that. "But I just wanted you to know… I appreciate your contribution."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

I shook my head quickly, then sighed. I'm still not fuckin' used to that.

"Is something wrong?"

I shook my head again. "Nah, just a little tired." I checked my watch. "Holy fu… How did it so damn late?"

"You're right…" Mitsuru agreed, looking at her own watch. "And, regrettably, I have to be going. I have another engagement." She stood up. "This was fun. We should do it again some time."

I smiled. "Sure thing. See you at the dorm."

* * *

Okay, I'm outside the dorm and I see Ryoji sitting on the stairs. What the fuck.

"Hey, Roy-kun!" He greeted, standing up. "You got time to talk?"

Azren, curse the world for me please.

_"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"_

Thank you. "Depends. What'd you want, Ryoji?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out or something." he replied, grinning that damn fucking grin of his.

Eyebrow. "What about Junpei?"

Ryoji shrugged. "He hasn't been talking to me lately. I tried to come see him today, but nobody would let me in your dorm."

I knew Yukari had at least one redeeming quality. "Sucks to be you then, I've got stuff to do."

"Aw, what!" He griped. I tried to head into the dorm, but he got in my way. "C'mon man, you can study later! Don't be a stick in the mud!"

Glare of doom. "Get out of my way before I break your damn arm."

He backed up a step and I shoved past him and opened the door.

"See ya around." I grunted, shutting the door behind me.

"Was that Ryoji-san?"

Aigis! Just the person to brighten my mood. "It was."

"What was he doing here?"

"He's been coming over a lot lately." Yukari commented from her seat on the sofa. "He keeps trying to visit Junpei."

Aigis looks perplexed now. "But, visitors aren't allowed here…"

"Part of why I don't want to talk to him." Junpei commented. "That and I really don't like the guy…"

"I don't think we need to worry about Ryoji-kun, though…" said Fuuka.

Aigis looked downward. "He's… dangerous…"

"Who? Ryoji-kun?"

"Come to think of it, he WAS hitting on Mitsuru-senpai the first time he met her." stated Yukari.

"He was…?" Aki asked.

"Yeah, it was just before the school trip." she told him, then she shuddered angrily. "Then once Mitsuru-senpai left he tried to invite me to Shirakawa Boulevard…"

That was my fault. And totally worth it to see him in pain.

_'You're evil sometimes, you know that?'_

I prefer the term 'morally ambiguous', but yes, I know.

"Man, sounds like he's got a death wish if you ask me!" Junpei laughed.

Fuuka giggled. "You're livelier then usual, Junpei-kun."

"Ya think so?" he asked with a grin. "Can't imagine why."

Yes you can, the reason is currently sitting next to you sketching and you know it you sarcastic loon.

_'That's the entire point, you know.'_

True… wait, why does Aigis look bummed out?

"Hey, what's the matter Ai-chan?" Junpei asked. Guess he noticed as well.

"I envy you, Junpei…" She said with surprising sadness. "I'm a machine, so I cannot understand what it means to 'live'."

My eye twitched reflexively. She is NOT a damn machine.

Junpei looked confused. "But, you don't seem that different…"

"However, it is more accurate to say that I am 'functioning' as opposed to living." Aigis sighed. "There are times when I malfunction, but I can always be repaired…"

"So if we were all like you…" he said slowly. "We wouldn't have to worry about dying…" He shook his head quickly. "Uh, sorry…" He stood up. "Hey, I don't have time to talk. I seriously gotta go study…" He started towards the stairs, then stopped and looked back. "Hey, shouldn't you guys be studying too? I heard math's gonna be killer."

"You wait until NOW to tell us that?" groaned Yukari. "Well, I guess I should call it a night then…"

Everybody else, even Chidori, got up and started towards the stairs after Junpei. I started to follow, but stopped when I noticed Aigis was just standing there.

"What's wrong?"

"I should not possess the gift of 'life'…" She said. "A 'living' weapon is difficult to operate… However…" She lifted her head to look at me. "I believe I understand the concept of loss… Should you ever be harmed, I…"

I took a step towards her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry so much. I'll be fine."

Aigis looked away again. "…I'll try not to." She looked back at me as I let go of her. "You are very special to me… I do not know why, but I always want to be by your side… I want to protect you…" she shook her head. "I apologize for interrupting you… I will leave you to your studies." She started past me. "…Good nigh-"

I blocked her path with a serious look on my face.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Aigis." I began. "If you want to protect me, then promise me something." I put both my hands on her shoulders. "Promise me you don't do anything dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt because of me."

"But I…"

"Promise me." I pleaded. "Please."

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I promise."

I smiled, then pulled her into a quick hug. "Thank you." I let go and stepped back a moment later. "Good night, Aigis."

"Good night…" She replied with a surprised expression before I turned and head up the stairs.

I don't like this sudden uneasiness I'm feeling in my chest. It can't be good.

* * *

The next day was rather interesting. Turns out Chidori's getting a full scholarship to Gekkoukan courtesy of the Kirijo Group. Officially, she was supposed to transfer to the school back in September, but due to a sudden serious illness she was hospitalized for several months and only recently was released to attend school, but has been doing her homework and such at the hospital to keep up with everything. She's also been placed in our class.

"Here we go again, class." Ms. Toriumi sighed as Chidori stood next to her at the front of the classroom. "Honestly, why are all the transfer students sent here? It's so bizarre…"

It's Mitsuru's fault. Also Junpei's probably.

"Anyways, please introduce yourself."

Chidori fidgeted nervously. I gotta say, she looks good in the school uniform. She ties for Aigis in terms of cuteness.

"My name is Chidori Yoshino…" She said quickly with a bow. She looks nervous.

"You can relax, nobody's going to yell at you…" said the teacher. "Now, as for your seat… how about right there next to Junpei-kun?"

Chidori's expression brightened, and so did Junpei's.

"But, sensei…"

"They have to be present to be a member of this class." growled Ms. Toriumi before that guy who sits next to Ryoji could finish talking. Speaking of Ryoji, he's not here today. Probably got sick or something. "So the seat is open."

Chidori nodded, then quickly took her seat.

Predictably, the other students buzzed about her either for being the fourth transfer student or being really hot. Oh, I gotta wonder how many minds will be blown when they find out about her and Junpei. That's gonna be funny.

* * *

I was right, it WAS funny. And the minds of basicly the entire class not in SEES or named Ryoji Mochizuki were blown. Chidori and Junpei went off on their own at lunch, which left me with Yukari, Aigis, and Hamuko.

"Hey, Roy-kun?"

I looked over at Hamuko. "Yeah?"

"Why do you think Chidori-san is in our class?"

"Simplest reason?" I began. "She'll get comfortable being around this many people if there's a lot of familiar faces, Junpei especially. That was likely the same reason Aigis was put in here. And if you think about it, the same could be said for me."

Hamuko tilted her head.

"See, I came to the dorm during the Dark Hour before my first official day here." I explained. "And if they didn't already suspect me of being Dark Hour sensitive, they never would've let me stay at the dorm. With that in mind, the only Persona user in this grade level at the time was Yukari, so it's probable they got me into her class so she could keep an eye on me." I looked at Yukari. "That was the case, right?"

She fidgeted. "Not exactly…"

I shrugged. "Close enough, but whatever." I pulled out my lunch. "Mah belleh demands sustenance!"

* * *

Nothing else happened after school, but when I got back to the dorm, Junpei informed me the next full moon was tomorrow. I checked the calendar.

Tomorrow is December Second. At midnight that night, it'll be December Third. The Dark Hour will hit at the same time, starting off the day I'll never forget for as long as I live.

It's the day Daniel and Akane Fortune, my parents, died in the Dark Hour.

* * *

I turned heads again the next morning. My hair was neatly combed. My uniform done up properly, though with a dark red tie instead of the stupid ribbon that I will never, ever wear. I still had my hat on, but it was neatly resting on my head as opposed to slightly lopsided like I usually have it.

"Good morning." Aigis greeted me at the shoe lockers. She must've been a bit behind me leaving the dorm. "…I intend to do my best to protect everyone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Aigis?"

She shook her head. "No, please do not worry. I just wanted to share my feelings."

I narrowed my eyes, then sighed. "Just… be careful, okay? You promised me…"

She looked away slightly. "…I will."

* * *

I avoided talking to just about anyone for the rest of the day if I could help it. Junpei and Hamuko were the most curious about my sudden slight adherence to the school uniform, but I ignored the questions and talked about other stuff. They gave up eventually.

When I got back to the dorm later then normal, I went straight up to my room and got changed into something casual and warmer to wear, then headed back downstairs.

"Hello Roy-kun." Fuuka greeted. "Tonight is the full moon… I don't think we'll be conducting an operation, but I intend to summon Juno just in case…"

I smiled weakly. "Thanks Fuuka. Let me know if you find anything."

She looked at me curiously. "Are you going somewhere?"

I looked away. "I need to be alone right now…"

"Why?"

"December Third. Twelve AM. Moonlight Bridge in Iwatodai, Japan." I said, starting towards the door. "The when and where of my parent's death."

Fuuka gasped slightly. "Roy-kun…"

"I'll be wandering around the city." I told her as I opened the door. "Just contact me if anything comes up, and I'll be right there." I stood in the doorway and looked back at her. "Okay?"

She looked concerned, but nodded once. I smiled again.

"Thanks, Fuuka." I said before I exited the dorm and trudged off into the darkened streets of the city.

* * *

I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling tonight. Or why I'm even narrating to myself about it. Maybe I just like talking to myself.

_"That's entirely possible."_

Shut up, Azren. You don't count because you can talk back.

_"Bah."_

Anyways, here I am, wandering the streets of Iwatodai at night by myself. I don't even know where I'm going right now. Doubt I'm heading to Tartarus, that'd just be stupid with the possibility of another Arcana Shadow showing up tonight.

I looked at my watch.

Three.

Two.

One.

Dark Hour.

And so begins the saddest day of my life.

With a sigh, I looked up at the rooftops. I thought to myself for a moment, then switched to Norn and used a Mind Charged Panta Rhei to get up onto the roof of the nearest building. I set Azren back at the front of my head, then just started hopping roofs for no real reason other then I could.

Kinda relaxing, really. Just running and jumping, or in some cases double jumping, across the tops of buildings. Just something simple to keep my mind moderately clear.

A flash of light drew my attention. Sparks were coming from the nearest side of the Moonlight Bridge. I could vaguely recognize the shape of something large with a huge spike coming from the… front…

That's Palladion. Aigis is fighting something.

I picked up my pace and practically flew across the rooftops. The sparks started dieing down once I was on the street again and getting closer. I saw Palladion dissipating and Aigis fall to her knees.

"AIGIS!" I shouted, practically teleporting next to her.

"Roy-san…" She said weakly. She's hurt. Badly. "I… I remember everything… who I am… who 'he' is…"

"Aigis, what happened to you?" I asked in a panic. This is not happening. This is not fucking happening.

"I know why I wanted to be by your side…" She continued, ignoring my question. "I'm sorry… I failed… to keep my promise…"

"You're going to be okay, don't say that!" I told her, grabbing hold of one of her shoulders.

Aigis gently lifted her arm and placed her hand on my face. "I'm… sorry…"

She lowered her arm a moment later, and her eyes went blank.

"Aigis…?" I asked quietly. My voice is cracking. "Aigis, answer me…" I tried shaking her. No response. "Aigis…?" Smoke or something started seeping out from the joints in her shoulders and from the ear things on her head. "Aigis! Aigis, talk to me, please! AIGIS!"

No. This isn't happening. She's fine. She's okay. This isn't happening. She's just resting a little, that's all. She overheated. She's fine.

"Aigis… there was no need for you to apologize… It's all my fault…"

I know that voice.

I'm going TO TEAR HIS GOD **FUCKING DAMN ARMS OFF AND _BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH THEM._**

* * *

Author Notes - Just so you know, I will not be answering reviews at the start of the next chapter. It'll be up within the next few days.


	45. Ryoji Mochizuki: Screams of Anguish

A/N: Just a note; This chapter is not told from Roy's perspective. It's told from Ryoji's.

* * *

I don't even know why I'm here. I just felt compelled to walk around the city tonight for some reason. As it stands, I'm on the Moonlight Bridge right now. The moon is pretty amazing…

"I've been looking for you."

I turned around. "You… You're…"

"What are you doing here?" Aigis demanded. What is she wearing?

"…Oh, that's right." I sighed. "You don't really like me, do you? Well, to answer your question, I just went for a walk and ended up here after a while." I smiled peacefully. "It's strange… The sky and ground look so weird, and there's no one here…" I winced. "Something terrible has happened here, and yet I feel at peace."

Aigis just kept staring at me. "…Have you forgotten?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Forgotten what?" What is she talking about?

"The Dark Hour." She explained. "A time period few people are active during. But you, you've somehow adapted to it…" She started glaring at me. "Too well for a human, in fact."

What is she getting at? What's the 'Dark Hour'? Is it that what's going on with the world right now?

"Yes… It's all so clear." She said firmly. "Now I understand this reason behind this feeling I sense when you're around. You are not good. You are…" Aigis took a more combative stance. "My enemy."

"Your enemy…?" I stammered, then my head felt like it was going to split open. Memories started pouring back into my mind. Memories that didn't seem like they were mine. "That's right… On a night like tonight… the moon was full… it was so long ago…"

"Yes…" affirmed Aigis. "We met once before… as adversaries."

"Who… who am I?" I asked, still gently gripping my head with my left hand. "Who are you…?"

"I am Aigis." She said with a firm voice. "The last remaining Anti-Shadow Emergency Control Weapon. A machine created to destroy Shadows."

"Created to… destroy Shadows…"

"And you…" Aigis continued. "Your true name is 'Death'… You are the Shadow I sealed away ten years ago!"

I took a step back as Aigis continued to glare at me with an intent to kill in her eyes.

"Yes…" I began. "Ten years ago, the night I was born into this world… I set foot on this very bridge."

Images began flashing through my mind. Memories of the battle.

"The sole purpose of my existence is to destroy Shadows." Aigis said. "For that reason I was given a Personality… and a Persona."

"They said I was Death, the Thirteenth Arcana that was never meant to be…" I continued. "And I wasn't in this world for long before parts of my body escaped me, leaving me incomplete… as I was when I met you."

"Even so, your strength was far greater than I anticipated." She stated. "The only possible alternative was to seal you away… and as circumstance would have it a suitable vessel was available: a human child crying nearby, clinging to a dead body…" Her expression hardened. "…So I did what was necessary."

"I see, so I was within him, and I lead him to my twelve missing pieces without realizing it." I said. "And then…" Realization swept over me. "I remember! I remember everything! It all makes sense now… Who, and what, I am."

"Palladion!"

Aigis' Persona surged into existence behind her and flew towards me, a large spike coming out of it to try and ram me.

"Stop, don't be foolish Aigis." I told her, holding my ground. "There's no way you can win. I'm different than before."

"A machine is created for a purpose." She said, charging at me with her Persona. "Mine is to defeat you. I exist for nothing else."

I winced. "It doesn't have to be that way…" And Roy would be pissed if he heard you saying this…

Palladion came to an abrupt halt infront of me. I wasn't even really trying to make a barrier, but one came into existence to block the Persona's attack. Sparks arced through the air at the clash of energies, some of the sparks impacting Aigis and causing damage to her. The clash intensified for a moment, then Aigis faltered and Palladion's attack slowed, the Persona moving back slightly before it began vanishing. Aigis fell to her knees.

"AIGIS!"

Roy appeared out of seemingly nowhere and ran over to her. I don't think he noticed me.

"Roy-san…" Aigis began weakly. "I… I remember everything… who I am… who 'he' is…"

"Aigis, what happened to you?" He's panicking. He's afraid.

"I know why I wanted to be by your side…" She completely ignored his question. "I'm sorry… I failed… to keep my promise…"

"You're going to be okay, don't say that!" He shouted, grabbing her shoulder.

She raised one of her arms and put her hand on his face gently. "I'm… sorry…"

Her arm lowered a moment later. I couldn't see here eyes very well, but judging from Roy's reaction, I'd say they're blank.

"Aigis…?" he asked, his voice choked with sorrow. "Aigis, answer me…" He tried shaking her to no avail. "Aigis…?" Smoke started seeping out of her in various places. "Aigis! Aigis, talk to me, please! AIGIS!"

I took a step towards the two of them.

"Aigis…" I began. "There was no need for you to apologize… It's all my fault…"

Roy froze when he heard my voice. I stopped as well. Him stopping like that is never a good thing.

His head very slowly turned to look at me. His face was mostly blank, but I could still see the rage burning in his eyes. It was basicly washing over me in waves. He stood up, his expression contorting more and more in anger. He turned to face me, and blue flames began circling his feet as he raised his right hand slightly. The claws Shade gave him appeared on his hands, then it seemed like they somehow spread to affect his head as well. A card appeared floating over his palm.

What in the hell…? He couldn't do that before…

_"SHADE." _He roared in the distorted voice of his own Shadow as he crushed the card in his hand. And indeed, Shade appeared. In contrast to Roy's mostly black form with red claws, eyes, and hair, Shade was mostly red with black claws, eyes, and hair. Fitting, considering Shade basicly looked like a palette swap of Roy himself to begin with.

"Roy, what are you-" I didn't finish before one of them surged forward with a shout of rage and punched me dead center in the face, sending me hurtling through the air and to the ground.

I tried to get up, only to get kicked in the stomach and sent skyward again. I stopped in mid-air, then found myself flying towards Roy, who punched me again. I flew back, then stopped and went back towards Roy again. This repeated several times before he finally punched me into the ground. He grabbed me by the back of my neck, then slugged me once more to send me sprawling to the ground yet again.

As I staggered to my feet, I heard Roy and Shade scream in anguish and hate before they came at me again. One from one side, one from the other. The started attacking me in mirrored synchronization. If one punched my stomach, the other's fist was also hitting my back. They were basicly fist-bumping through my body. Sometimes with their legs and feet. It hurt like nothing I'd ever felt before. I'm actually glad I'm not human, because if I was, I'd probably be dead by now.

Still hurts like you wouldn't believe, though.

Eventually, the two of them knocked me away again. They were panting and growling like some kind of wild animal. I know what's going on here. Roy's somehow accepting his rejection of his Shadow. It's going berserk, but it's under his control. This… is bad.

"Roy, stop…" I coughed as I got up again. "You can't beat me either… You'll end up like Aigis or worse-"

I was interrupted by a blast of wind, knocking me over yet again. Alright, fine then.

"If you insist on fighting me…" I told him with a dark tone as I stood once more. "Then I will start fighting back."

They just snarled at me loudly. I don't think he's fully aware of what's going on anymore. He's just acting on instinct now. And those instincts want me dead.

I sighed. "Very well."

The two of them came at me again, but I parried them both with my blade, then threw them back as I took my true form as Death. If he wasn't berserk right now, he'd recognize it as what he referred to as Black, the thing that tore its way out of Orpheus so many months ago.

I roared at them, hoping to dissuade them from attacking. I failed at that, because they roared back louder, then charged at me once more. I sighed to myself, then blocked Roy with my sword as I smacked Shade away with my free hand. Roy continued trying to attack, but I blocked him at every turn. I know all his moves. Sure, the thing he's doing with those claws of his is something I haven't seen before, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. Certainly explains why he's faster and more powerful now, though.

Shade lunged at me, but I parried one of Roy's punches at him, disorienting the Shadow enough for me to throw him at Roy. The two went down, then staggered up again. Heh. Just like Roy to not want to give up.

The screamed at me as they charged wildly, punching and kicking like crazy in vain attempts to hit me. I either parried or dodged their assault, then finally called down a Megidola to blast them back. They hit the ground hard and slid to a stop.

The sound of a dog barking drew my attention. Koromaru was next to Aigis.

"Aigis!" Yukari shouted, the rest of SEES following her. Wait, is that Chidori? Huh. Certainly explains why Junpei didn't want to hang out that much.

"She's not functioning…" stated Mitsuru once she was close enough o inspect Aigis up close.

"What is that thing!" Ken yelled, pointing at me.

"Look on the ground! It's Roy! But… who's that next to him…?"

"I think it's Azren!"

Azren? The hell?

I didn't ponder for long, because Roy and Shade began stirring. The two slowly pushed themselves upwards.

"Roy-san…!"

**_"STAY BACK." _**they both barked angrily. **_"HE'S MINE."_**

All of SEES flinched. Sounds like they channeled a Magarudyne into that shout.

Roy and Shade looked at me with a deadly glare and took a few steps forward and stood next to each other. They raised the arm closest to each other, then swung it at the other's chest. There was a burst of blinding light, then only one person was standing there, and it was Roy.

He looked like you divided him down the middle and painted the right half black and the left half red. At least with his skin. His outfit looked about the same as always. His hair and eyes were glowing grey, but whenever strands of hair got infront of his eyes, they turned red. The claws on his right hand looked like they normally do, while the left hand looked like the ones Shade had, with the colors reversed.

What in the hell is this?

Roy sucked in a deep breath, then roared at the top of his lungs. I felt a massive wave of pressure pressing down on me when he did. I think he fused with Shade, and has the power of his berserk Shadow in his body directly at his control now. This could be… problematic, to say the least.

The others in SEES apparently felt the pressure as well, because a few of them were having a hard time standing.

All of a sudden though, Roy stopped. Then he glared at me again before he held up a hand and snapped his fin-

I screamed in pain as beams of energy tore away at me from four angles. How the hell did he do that so quickly? I moved my head a little and managed to glimpse an intricate design on the ground. Was he making that while he roared, and used the roar to distract me…?

I didn't get time to ponder the answer, because the moment the beams stopped, Roy was all over me. He tore away at me with his clawed hands. So fiercely, in fact, that he started literally tearing apart my form. Then he slammed his left hand into my chest, completely reverting me to my familiar form of Ryoji Mochizuki.

I heard someone say my name right before I started screaming in pain again. He was unleashing whatever energy made up those claws of his directly into my body. I saw arcs of said energy pass my field of vision several times before I felt a massive impact and found myself bouncing to a stop on the bridge.

"You…_ BASTARD…!"_

I struggled up enough to look at Roy, who was flickering between his normal self and that form with is claws repeatedly. I think he's starting to come to his senses and used up too much power.

"I…" he spat, taking a staggering step towards me. _"Am not… _done… _with you…!"_

He took another step, then fell to one knee.

_"Damn it…"_ He cursed, his voice sounding pained and strained, like his throat was raw. "Damn it all…!"

He fell over a moment later, and presumably was now unconscious because he stopped flickering. I heard shouts of concern as his friends all rushed over to him.

I pushed myself up and got to my feet, then took a few stumbling steps towards them.

Akihiko noticed and put himself between me and the rest of SEES.

"Akihiko, wait." said Mitsuru sharply. "He's not showing any signs of aggression." She glared in my direction. "Tell us… Who are you? WHAT are you?"

I sighed. "I'm the same as the beings you call Shadows."

"You're a Shadow?"

I nodded. "I'm the embodiment of all Shadows… The Appriser, born from the union of the Twelve Arcana."

"The Appriser…?"

"I remember everything now…" I stated sadly. "The frightening truth about myself… and Shadows…" I fell to my knees. "It's all so hard to believe…"

"…You know the 'truth' about Shadows?"

I nodded in response to Mitsuru's question. "Yes. Shadows are here to facilitate the rebirth of the maternal being. She will begin to awaken as she is drawn to me…" I lowered my head. "The Appriser."

"You?" Mitsuru asked. "You're the Appriser?"

I nodded again.

"What is this 'Maternal being'…?" asked Fuuka.

"She is a great entity… There is no comparable word in your language for her." I said. "Ten years ago, a man collected a great number of Shadows and contained them in a laboratory… That's where I was born." I looked up at them. "But the unification was interrupted, and I awoke in an incomplete state. Not long after, I feel to Aigis… as she did to me."

"Aigis…?" Junpei asked incestuously.

"As hard as it is to believe, it's the truth." I told him. "But she knew she could not defeat me… so in an act of desperation, she sealed me within a child who happened to be nearby. That child grew up, carrying me inside him." I chuckled bitterly. "And by a twist of fate, her later returned here…" I looked at Roy. "As a transfer student."

"You mean…"

"Yeah." I answered before Yukari could ask her question. "I lived inside Roy's head. His special Persona awakened… as did the Twelve Shadows, all in order to become one with me."

"Ryoji, you're The Appriser?" Junpei stammered, sounding very confused. "A-And you were inside his HEAD? None of this makes sense!"

I sighed wearily. "It's all my fault… I'm sorry…" I wobbled slightly. "There's more I need… to tell you…"

I'm pretty sure I passed out at that point. Hope I didn't break my nose on the concrete.

* * *

Author Notes - Remember, remember, the Third of December. When Aigis fell, and Ryoji remembered. More to be revealed in Chapter 46. And for the record, the official soundtrack for this chapter is 'Animal I Have Become' by Three Days Grace. Considering how Roy was acting, I felt it was fitting. Plus I was writing all this while listening to it, so yeah.

Post-Chapter Review- Answer Corner GO!

**Astrih Konnash **- If you thought 44 was bad, then you've likely found 45 to be worse by the time you get to this review answer. Hell, the aftermath of all this in chapter 46 might be even worse.

**Justhere21** - Actually, my responce to you wasn't anywhere near that long. By itself, the chapter was around 9360 words, and once I put in the review answers, it went up to only around 11300 or so. So probably about 2000 words. And I was trying to be funny when I said the 'Persona Fanfiction Jesus' thing, but if you really want to call me that I'm not gonna stop ya.

And that's all. More to come in the next chapter.


	46. Silent Rage for Certain Death

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Overlord Duelist** - No, Chidori does not have Die For Me! and Samsara. She has Spring of Life, Agidyne, Maragidyne, Mind Charge, Diarahan, Mamudoon, Mahamaon, and Debilitate. Though I must admit, the thought of the various SEES members unleashing the ultimate Persona skills is pretty awesome. Mitsuru with Nifilhiem, anyone? :D

**Astrih Konnash** - Actually this chapter is a bit lighter then the last couple. Still heavy stuff, but it starts to mellow out a bit.

**Despair's Cold Edge** - Glad you liked the chapters. The Ryoji Perspective chapter was basicly so I could add a bit more character to him and because I doubt Roy would be able to narrate at all during that entire fight. He was just too pissed off.

**Lunatsu13** - Personally I think Minato's rage was better in your 'Once more with gusto' story, but eh.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I looked around. I don't know where I am. It looks like some kind of… coliseum…

I heard several groans behind me and turned around.

Mitsuru, Akihiko, Chidori, Junpei, Hamuko, and Ken were lying on the ground, badly beaten. A few of them were bleeding a little.

I heard a voice and turned towards it. Aigis was staggering towards me wearing some weird armor. She was hurt as well. And she was looking at me with fear and confusion.

A cough drew my attention. I finally realized I had my left hand wrapped around Yukari's throat. But that doesn't look like my hand. I let go of her and took a few steps back and looked at my hands. These aren't my hands. And that's not my blood on them.

I feel to my knees, then looked at Aigis.

"Aigis…" I croaked, my voice sounding strange to my ears. "What have I done…?"

* * *

I jolted awake in my bed. My eyes darted around quickly.

"Roy-kun?"

I turned my head. Fuuka was sitting on the chair at my desk. Azren was nowhere to be seen.

"You're awake…" She smiled weakly.

"Fuu… ka…?" I wheezed, and my throat burned. Why does it hurt?

"Are you okay?" She asked, seeming concerned.

I shook my head and pointed at my neck.

She looked confused. Okay, plan B. 'FUUKA! CAN YOU HEAR ME IN YOUR HEAD?'

She flinched. 'I'll take that as a yes. OKAY. I'm… okay, I guess, but my throat hurts like nobody's business. I don't think I can talk normally.'

"Are you sure?" She asked.

I nodded. 'Yeah, I really don't think I can… And what happened? How'd I get back to the dorm? The last thing I remember was being on… the… bridge…'

I sat upright quickly. 'WHERE'S RYOJI?'

"He's sleeping." Fuuka said firmly. "He fell unconscious just after you did."

I blinked. 'Unconscious?'

She nodded. "You were fighting him on the bridge last night. I've never seen you do anything like that before." She shivered.

…I don't remember that…

_"You're not the only one."_

I turned my head to see Azren sitting on the mini-fridge in my room, rubbing his head.

You okay? You look like hell.

_"I feel like hell."_ He grunted. His voice sounds weird. _"I don't even sound right."_

…Probably related to my insanely sore throat. I looked at Fuuka. 'What happened?'

"I don't know…" She stated. "I sensed Aigis on the bridge, and she was fighting something, so I told everyone and we went to help her… Then I felt you fighting something without even trying. But when I tried to talk to you…" She shuddered in fear.

I swallowed hard, ignoring the pain it caused. 'What happened?'

"All I heard was you screaming 'make him pay' over and over." Fuuka told me.

A few images flashed through my mind with bits of emotions attached to them. I couldn't make any sense of them.

"Roy-kun."

I looked at Fuuka again.

"What happened?" She asked. "Why were you so angry? How did Aigis get hurt?"

My eyes widened. 'What happened to Aigis? Is she okay?'

"Mitsuru-senpai had some people from the Kirijo group come pick her up." She told me. "They took her back to Yakushima for repairs." Her gaze hardened. "But what happened, Roy-kun?"

I sighed. 'I was hopping along rooftops during the Dark Hour when I spotted something going down on the bridge. Turned out to be Palladion attacking something, so I went over to help Aigis out.' I scowled and lowered my head slightly. 'But I was too late. By the time I got to the bridge, she'd already been beaten. I didn't even know what did that to her…'

I balled my hands into fists. 'At least, not until that smug prick showed up and said he was the reason she got the hell beat out of her.'

I shifted so my legs were over the side of my bed, my feet resting on the floor. 'Damn it… I'm the one who should be sorry… she got hurt because she wanted to protect me… It's my fault this happened…'

I heard movement, and turned my head slightly in time to see Fuuka sit down next to me on my bed. Then she moved her arm an-

'OW! What the hell, Fuuka?' I mentally griped as I rubbed the spot on the back of my head where she smacked me. That hurt…

"Stop blaming yourself, Roy-kun."

My head turned instantly to look at her as she was glaring at me like she was three steps short of stabbing me with something. 'Huh…?'

"You had no idea what was going to happen." Fuuka stated angrily. "None of us did. It's not your fault."

I lowered my arms to rest on my lap and just gazed down at my hands. 'Yes it is, Fuuka. I made her promise me that she'd be careful… it might have made her hold back, and that's how she got beat down so badly…' I felt tears start rolling down my face. 'It's my fault Aigis got hurt…'

Fuuka was silent for a few moments, then she spoke up. "Roy-kun…?"

I looked at her. 'Yeah?'

"Are you…" She began hesitantly. "In love with Aigis…?"

I blinked a few times, then laughed a little, shaking my head slowly.

'Read me like a book.' I sighed.

"So… when you attacked Ryoji-kun…"

'I was be berserking over what happened to her, probably.' I stated mentally. 'I really don't remember much about what happened, just little teeny bits and pieces.'

Fuuka started to say something, then her cellphone went off. She quickly pulled it out and placed it to her ear.

"Hello?" She began. "Oh, hello Yukari-chan… Yes, he's fine. I'm sitting next to him in his room right now. He woke up a few minutes ago… Sorry, he can't talk right now… No, I mean that literally. He had to have Azren tell me that he can't talk because his throat hurts so much…" She paused. "Yes… Okay, I will. See you after school, Yukari-chan. Goodbye."

I blinked as she put her phone away. 'You skipped school to keep tabs on me?'

Fuuka nodded. "Mitsuru-senpai asked me to stay and make sure you were okay."

I smiled weakly. 'Thanks Fuuka.'

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

* * *

She left my room after that so I could get dressed and stuff. God, my body is sore as hell… I'll have to ask somebody what happened last night… ah man this sucks…

Once I was showered and changed I carefully staggered downstairs. Koromaru barked and came over to me. I smiled, then patted his head a few times.

He wagged his tail, then tilted his head and gave a sort of whimper.

"He's fine, little buddy." Azren assured him. "He just can't talk for a little while is all."

Koro did what I think amounted to a confused grunt.

"Yeah, he doesn't know either." sighed Azren. "He just yelled too much and now hurts him to talk."

Koro bobbed his head and barked in affirmation. He gets it now.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Roy-kun?" Fuuka asked from the sofa.

'Yeah, I'm fine.' Talking in my head is weird. 'I'm just mildly disgruntled I have to be a mute for probably a day or two. And that I have to think what I want to say in Japanese. It's gonna get confusing in here.'

"Well, um, I can understand English a bit…" She said as I flopped down on the sofa next to her. "So I don't mind that much."

'Alternatively I could try using Azren as a speaker box.' I grinned. 'But I doubt I could do it right, and I don't think he'd agree to it anyways.'

"No, I might." He commented. "I just wouldn't like it."

'Or there's always that…' I sighed, then I looked at Fuuka. 'So hey, want me to make us some lunch 'er something?'

"Oh, no, it's okay, you don't ha-"

"Fuuka, that's not gonna stop him." laughed Azren.

She looked at him, then at me. I just grinned.

* * *

So I fixed us up some simple sandwiches to nom while we just hung around the dorm. Fuuka filled me in on what happened after I passed out. Most notably about how Ryoji was sealed inside my head by Aigis the night my parents died. Certainly would explain why I don't remember passing out during the Dark Hour before the paramedics showed up, and a bit about why I would dream of Aigis. I actually HAD met her before Yakushima. The bit about having Ryoji in my head made me notice something really quickly, though. Mainly that he looks like Pharos, just older. They're probably the same person and it explains why Pharos could come and go like he did, answering a question I wanted an answer to months ago. I'll have to ask him just to be sure.

A little while after Fuuka finished recounting the events on the bridge for me, I got up to get a snack when the front door opened. I turned around and was immediately knocked to the ground by something. Something with brown hair.

"Roy, you're okay!"

Something named **Yukari.**

_"Yukari, you have three seconds after I finish talking to get off of him before he breaks your arm."_ Azren warned. _"He's not in a good mood today."_

**THANK YOU, AZREN.**

"Oh, uh… sorry Roy…" Yukari apologized quickly as she let the fuck go of me and stood up. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard…"

I just glared at her as I got to my feet.

She blinked. "What's wrong?"

I kept glaring.

Yukari started glaring back. "Geez, what's your problem? Why don't you say something?"

_"He can't talk ya dumb broad." _Azren grunted.

Why can I imagine Akihiko saying that?

_'Probably because it's funny.'_

"Wait, seriously?" She asked, looking at me. "Can't you just heal it?"

"Tried that." Azren stated. "Didn't do shit. And where's everyone else?"

"Oh, uh, I left a little early today." Yukari stated with a slight blush. "They should be here soon."

"Hey, Roy! How ya doin' buddy?" Suddenly Junpei! "Feelin' okay?"

Yeah, but I'd be better if I wasn't stuck as a silent protagonist for who knows how damn long.

_"He can't hear you when you're talking in your head, Roy."_

I was kind of hoping you'd say it out loud for me because, ya know, I CAN'T?

_"…I probably should, huh?"_ Azren mused, rubbing his chin. _"Anyways, to answer your question Junpei, he's fine, just rendered mute for a while."_

"How?"

"He screamed hard enough that it tore up his throat."

Junpei winced. "Ouch…" He shook his head. "Well, keep it together, okay dude? Mitsuru-senpai said Ryoji's coming by to finish explaining stuff today."

I twitched.

_"Roy…"_ warned Azren.

Oh calm down, I'll be fine. I'll wait till he's done talking before I break his legs.

* * *

Eventually everyone else showed up, as did Ryoji. We all headed up to the meeting room. Ryoji took Ikutsuki's spot, Me, Aki, and Koromaru stood, and everyone else was sitting down on the sofa 'n stuff. We need more chairs in here.

"Is everyone present?" Mitsuru asked.

"Are you okay, Ryoji-kun?" inquired Fuuka, ignoring Mitsuru's question.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He smiled weakly, glancing at me warily as he did so. "Thanks. Besides, there's more I have to tell you guys."

"Ryoji-kun…"

"Yes, there are many questions we need answered." cut in Mitsuru. "To begin with, you said Shadows were here to facilitate the rebirth of the maternal being… Please elaborate on this."

"The maternal being is called Nyx."

Junpei raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell's Nyx…?"

_"Greek Goddess of the Night."_ Azren stated. _"Also the mother of Thanatos, Hypnos, and Moros, which are Personae that belong to Roy, Revolver Anti-Christ, and the My Gunpowder Romance kid."_

"Well the artificial Personae the two of them wield were likely created using some of the samples the Kirijo Group took from me, so it's not surprising they're connected via mythology." Ryoji shrugged. "As for the Nyx I speak of, she is the mother of Shadows. In ancient times, she bestowed 'Death' to this world. If she is awakened, darkness will once again cover the land, and all life will vanish."

"You mean…" stammered Akihiko. "Everyone will die?"

_"That's kinda what 'all life will vanish' implies, Aki."_ grunted Azren.

"Then, that must mean…" began Mitsuru gravely. "The Fall."

"But, it's still possible to keep it from happening…" Yukari cut in hopefully. "Right?"

Ryoji lowered his head.

"Wh-What…?" She stuttered. "There's no way to prevent it…?"

He nodded with a sigh. "I'm sorry…"

I looked at everyone. I can't tell if Hamuko was more terrified or pissed off, but Chidori's shocked, Junpei's angry, Fuuka's freaked out, Ken's in the same boat as Hamuko, I can't really tell what Mitsuru's thinking, and Aki's just scowling like it's an Olympic Event.

"Wait, what're you apologizing for?" Yukari panicked. "Are you saying it's for certain?"

Ryoji nodded gravely. "Yes… You heard the bell… I'm the Appriser… the Appriser of Death… My existence is the affirmation of the Fall."

I scowled. Bull. Fucking. SHIT.

"When?" growled Akihiko. "When will it happen?"

"I'm afraid you won't live to see spring."

"But, that's not too far away!" Junpei yelled, then he looked around at everyone before he kept his gaze on me for a second. I nodded.

Junpei let out a laugh. "Ah, what're you guys freakin' out for? All we have to do is defeat this Nyx! And that won't be a problem cuz we've never lost!"

"Defeating Nyx is… impossible."

_"Bullshit."_ Azren snapped. _"Nothing is impossible."_

"It has nothing to do with strength, ability, or power." Ryoji said firmly. "Just as all living things die… and the flow of time is continuous… Nyx cannot be defeated."

"What…?" Junpei stammered, then he scowled. "That's bullshit!"

I agree.

_"What Junpei said."_ stated Azren. _"It's complete bullshit Pharos, and you know it."_

Ryoji laughed. "I hadn't expected you to call me that, Shade."

_"My name is Azren." _He grunted. _"Roy faced himself. Bet you weren't counting on that."_

Ryoji actually looked surprised. "Is that so…? Then why isn't he the one telling me this?"

I just glared at him, then pointed at my neck. He raised an eyebrow. I facepalmed.

_"He can't talk because of all the screaming he did last night. It wrecked his throat."_ sighed my Persona. _"So I'm stuck filling in for him."_

Quit your bitching.

_'Bah.'_

"This is all so sudden…" noted Ken.

"However, there is something I can do to help you." Ryoji stated. "Though I was born from a collection of Shadows, my time spent inside Roy's head has given me a human form. I can talk with you, laugh with you, cry with you… all gifts I got from him. Because of this… I can give you a choice."

I hope magical rings that make color-coded fire from willpower aren't involved.

_'Not the time for snark, Roy.'_

Shaddup.

"A choice…?" parroted Yukari.

Ryoji nodded. "Nyx's coming cannot be avoided. But, it is possible for you to live in peace until she arrives." He winced. "To do it, though… you'll have to kill me."

"No." I croaked.

They all looked at me. Actually managing to say that hurt like a bitch. Little help, Azren?

_"We're not going to kill you, Ryoji."_ Azren snarled for me. _"I don't care what you tell us, there's no god damn way we're doing it."_

"But if you don't kill me, you will suffer more than you could ever imagine!" stated Ryoji. "With no hope for salvation, you will have to live every day paralyzed with fear of your impending death! But if you kill me, the Dark Hour would disappear, along with your memories of it. You won't remember everything, and the Fall would be delayed for a little while longer. Its coming would be instantaneous, and you wouldn't suffer."

There was a silence over the room for a few moments. Then Yukari spoke up.

"I don't want my memories to be erased." She said. "To forget everything would be like hiding from the truth!"

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" Ryoji asked. "All that awaits you now is despair. You don't know the terror of absolute death…!" He shook his head and sighed. "Please, don't make your decision without at least thinking about what I've said."

_"Roy has. He's not going to kill you."_ said Azren. _"End of fucking story."_

Ryoji just sighed again. "You don't have to decide right now anyways. You've got until December Thirty-First, New Year's Eve, to think about it. After that, I'll dissolve into the blackness of the Dark Hour and become intangible… and I'll disappear with the coming of Nyx anyways, so don't worry about me." He stood up and started towards the door. "I'll be back on New Year's Eve…"

He opened the door, then took one last look back at us all, then exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

'Fuuka.' I began in my head. 'Is he still there?'

"No…" She replied. "Ryoji-kun's not here anymore…"

Akihiko looked at her seriously. "Are you sure?"

Fuuka nodded. "Yes…"

"Ryoji-kun…" murmured Yukari.

"We will see him again." stated Mitsuru. "On New Year's Eve."

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I'm going to have an aneurism before this is over, I fucking know it.

* * *

We all just went to bed after that. Nobody really wanted to talk anyways.

Next morning I headed to School with an extra notepad so I could at least TRY to communicate with people. I also got a 'doctor's note' from Mitsuru to give to the teachers to explain away my inability to speak. I have no idea what the cover story is, but I'll just assume it's some unique illness or something.

Unfortunately, my teachers would forget about this about halfway through lessons and ask me to answer something, then remember and ask someone else. It was… frustrating, to say the least.

Nothing happened at the dorm that evening except everyone trying to get the facts straight. I added in, via Azren, that Ryoji had been appearing to me since the night I got to the dorm as a kid named Pharos who'd pop up before Full Moons to warn me about them. It was hardly the most shocking thing they'd heard in the last two days.

Day after that, I hung out with Mitsuru after school to try and get the edge off of things for both of us. Ended up checking out the Takoyaki stand at the Iwatodai strip mall.

"Interesting…" Mitsuru mused. "So, 'takoyaki' doesn't consist of an entire octopus, only a small portion." She seemed to chuckle to herself at that. "Well, it makes sense… and entire octopus would be too much food for one person." She sighed. "Sometimes I'm amazed at my ignorance of the world…"

I pulled out my notepad and scribbled down a request for her to get us some if she didn't mind, then held it up so she could read it.

She smiled. "Of course." She went up to the counter to order. "I will have one takoyaki, please."

Oh god wait why did I ask her that crap

Mitsuru recoiled her head slightly. "What? Takoyaki isn't sold in individual pieces?"

_Hoo_ boy.

* * *

Once Mitsuru was over the apparently mind-shattering revelation that one order of takoyaki gets you a dozen of them at a surprisingly low price, we sat down on the nearby bench and started snacking away.

"So, it's filled with diced octopus inside. Interesting…" She mused before she ate another one. She winced once she swallowed it. "It tastes slightly sour…" She looked at me. "Are there other ingredients in addition to the octopus?"

I shrugged, then ate another one. Being mute sucks.

"Well, whatever they may be, they taste absolutely delicious…" She smiled. "C'est tres bon!"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

I think the Social Link voices are getting bored and are just pestering me whenever the hell they feel like it at this point.

"That reminds me of what Akihiko was talking about when we walked past here…" Mitsuru mused suddenly, then she paused and seemed to ponder something. "Don't you think Akihiko has been acting differently lately? I don't mean to be rude, it's just that I've known him for such a long time… Perhaps he's just maturing…"

I pulled out my notepad and wrote 'who knows?' on it and showed it to her, then flipped to another page and wrote 'maybe you're just happy for him.' and let her read that.

"…Of course I'm happy for him." She chuckled. "With all we've been through, it can be difficult to get over our pasts." She gazed up at the sky. "However, Akihiko is trying to learn from his experiences. I'm very impressed by him."

I see a chance to mess with her a little. I quickly jotted down something on the notepad and held it up for her to read. Azren peaked over he shoulder to read it, then burst out laughing.

_"He thinks you're in love with Akihiko!"_ He sputtered between giggles. _"Oh god my sides, they burn!"_

"I-In love…?" Mitsuru was blushing furiously. "No, it's no that. Does it appear that way to you?"

I raised an eyebrow. If she doesn't have a thing for him I will actually be amazed.

"Don't look at me like that, he's just a friend." She stated firmly. "Or should I say teammate…" She frowned. "I can't seem to find the correct word to describe him…" Mitsuru shook her head quickly. "Regardless, that is the extent of our relationship."

Suuuuuure it is.

"I don't even know what I'm talking about." she sighed. "Sorry for subjecting you to my incoherent ramblings… please forget what I just said."

I shrugged, then asked via notepad if she wanted to head back to the dorm.

"Yes, it's getting late." Mitsuru replied. "But I think we should eat her again sometime…"

I smiled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

Nothing happened the next couple of days after that, except everyone still flipping out over Ryoji's ultimatum. At least until I went to the school Library with Mitsuru on the seventh. She was looking a little bothered by something.

I jotted down a question, then got her attention so she could read it.

"You noticed?" She asked wearily. I nodded, and she sighed. "You see, since my father passed away, I've been faced with many difficult problems. My inheritance… the future of Kirijo… and the expectations of everyone involved with both… Most likely I won't be able to attend college or begin a profession. I will have to find another path."

I frowned. She looks… I dunno, timid for once.

"Say, Fortune…" Mitsuru began suddenly a few moments later. "What are your thoughts on marriage?"

I wrote down my reply. A Kirijo doc checked out my neck the other day and said I should be able to speak again by the tenth at the absolute latest, and tomorrow at the earliest. I can actually kind of talk now, but I'm not risking screwing up my throat again.

Mitsuru looked at what I wrote and laughed. "You're so straightforward." She handed me back my notepad. "However, I'm a Kirijo. I cannot simply make a decision according to my emotions. An agreement between two parties such as marriage must be carefully considered. My parents' marriage was arranged for strategic reasons. But, as time passed, they slowly grew to love each other." She smiled. "I don't consider them unfortunate… Love comes in all different forms." She looked at me. "Do you disagree?"

I chuckled and wrote down what I thought, then showed it to her.

Her eyes widened slightly, then she looked at me. "Is this true, Fortune?"

I nodded seriously.

She looked at the pad again, then handed it back to me. "I never would have expected such a thing…"

I just shrugged and wrote something else down, then showed it to her.

Mitsuru read it, then smiled. "I suppose you're right. Nobody really knows who they'll fall in love with." She winced. "Though, it certainly explains the state we found you in on the bridge…"

I winced as well, then scribbled a quick request and held it out for her to read.

"Of course, Fortune." She replied after she scanned the writing. "It's a personal matter. I wouldn't think of speaking to others about it."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

I smiled. "Thanks." God my voice still sounds weird.

Mitsuru's attention turned to several students quickly filing out of the library. "I can't believe the library is closing and we're still here…" She sighed. "Talking in the library… I'm not setting a very good example as Student Council President." She looked back at me. "We should go."

I nodded in agreement, then followed her out.

* * *

The next morning I was able to talk a little, but not for long without my throat burning again. It sucked, but at least I wasn't stuck burning through notepads all day. The day after that saw further improvement, and I was almost back to normal speech capacity. By the Tenth, I was good to go.

"Ah man…" I sighed as I walked out of the kitchen that morning after tossing my breakfast dishes into the sink. "SO good to be able to actually talk again."

"Aw man, and here I was getting used to the peace and quite…" Junpei complained. I threw a snowball at him. "Ow! Geez, I was kidding man!"

"Ha ha, laugh it up wise guy." I grunted.

"You know… you sound different now."

Oh god here it comes. "I noticed. Why's that a big deal?"

"Well…" Junpei began. "You sound like Dante from Devil May Cry Three now."

I just sorta looked at him for a second, then thought of something. "No."

"But…"

"NO." I growled. "I'm not going to start randomly quoting him just to screw with people…" I paused. "Maybe." It would be fucking hilarious.

"Actually I wanted you to say something he'd never say."

"What, like 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedle lee dee, there they are a-standin' in a row' or something?"

"Ha! No, but that's hilarious." He laughed. "Where's that even from?"

"Monty Python's Flying Circus." I stated. "Damn funny stuff."

_"That it is, Roy."_ Azren agreed, also sounding like Dante now, albeit distortedly. _"That it is."_

* * *

General reaction to my new voice, which made little to no sense to me but I guess a combination of getting older and screaming till my vocal cords were raw had something to do with it, was ranging between surprise, confusion, or in the case of Hamuko, semi rampant fangirlism. Apparently she's a DMC fan. Who knew? Thankfully Junpei and Aki managed to pry her off of me. I swear, she's got the strength of a bear with vice grips for hands or something. At least she didn't break any of my ribs.

Thankfully despite Ryoji having not shown up for school in over a week, I didn't get mauled by fangirls. Hell I don't think anyone even noticed my voice was different either. Kinda weird, but not too big of a deal for me. Headed back to the dorm and found everybody gathered in the lounge on the first floor.

"Well, it's been a week." Yukari began once she spotted me walk over. "What're we going to do?" She looked at the others, then focused on Fuuka. "You okay, Fuuka?"

Fuuka seemed surprised, but nodded. "You just seem so calm…"

"We have to make a decision…" Yukari said. "I mean, it's been such a drag around here lately, and no one will go to Tartarus…"

"…You're right." Mitsuru agreed. "We humans are quite resilient. We can adapt to any situation, given enough time." She looked around at the others. "So, how about it, everyone? Why don't we talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about." I grunted. "I'm not killing him, that's the end of it. And seeing as how apparently I'm the only one who can do it anyways, why are we even debating it?"

"This affects all of us, Fortune." stated Mitsuru. "We should decide as a group."

I sighed. "Alright, fine." I turned my attention to everyone else. "What do you all think?"

"I don't think se should kill Ryoji-kun." Hamuko said. "Even if we do, it won't solve change anything. He said it himself, Nyx will come anyways even if we kill him."

There was silence for a few moments before Ken spoke up. "…Have you made your decision, Sanada-san?"

Akihiko shook his head. "No… but I don't plan on running away."

"So you're going to fight Nyx?" Mitsuru asked.

He sighed. "…I don't know. I mean, it's supposedly undefeatable. What about you? What are your thoughts on it?"

"Honestly, this is the first time I've ever really contemplated my own death…" admitted Mitsuru. "It's quite a sobering thought. I don't want to suffer… and I don't want to kill Ryoji. But like Arisato said, either way, we still die so I suppose there's no simple answer."

"Then, do we all agree that we don't want to hurt Ryoji-kun?" Fuuka asked nervously.

Aki looked at her. "Is that how you feel?"

"Well…" She began. "I, um…"

"It's okay, Fuuka." said Yukari. "I mean, it's not natural to choose how you're going to die…" She turned her head. "What about you, Junpei? Have you decided?"

He scowled. "No."

"What's the matter?" She smirked. "Scared?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?" snapped Junpei. "You think this is all a joke?"

Yukari was startled by his outburst. "Junpei, I…"

"We're going to die!" He continued. "Of course I'm scared! You all need to wake up, this is death we're talking about here!"

"The, what do you want to do?" Mitsuru asked sharply. "Do you want to kill him?"

Junpei glared down at his feet. "There's nothing I can do…" He turned his head towards me. "He's the only one who can kill him anyways, and he doesn't even want to." He turned around completely. "Come to think of it, it's all your fault… You had that thing inside you and didn't even know it… You raised it, damn it! This is all your fault!"

"WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" I bellowed, startling everyone.. "We kill him, we forget, then Nyx shows up in two months or whatever to end the world! We don't kill him, we remember, then we have a showdown with Nyx where we have a high probability of getting to be the first ones to die! Those are our god damn options right now, Junpei!"

"Stop it, you two!" Yukari snapped, cutting off my rant. "It's not Roy's fault… and the only reason we even HAVE a choice is because he carried it!"

"I know that, damn it!" He said angrily, sitting back down. "But…"

"I'm sorry I teased you, Junpei." sighed Yukari. "I was just trying to lighten up the situation."

"Next time, please don't." I growled at her, then I looked at Junpei. "And I'm sorry I snapped, I just really don't see any other option then 'kick the fucker out the door once he comes back and go shove Ken's spear through Nyx's head once that bitch shows up' to all of this."

"Personally, I don't want to forget everything." Yukari said. "I've learned so much since coming here."

"I've never really talked about this before, but…" began Junpei. "My old man was an alcoholic. He started drinking after he was tricked into investing his life savings in some telemarketing scam. He drank until he passed out, so he didn't have to face reality… and I hated him for it…" He sighed. "But now, I understand how he felt. Everything seems hopeless… I'm so scared!"

"I know how you feel, Junpei-kun." said Fuuka. "I'm scared too."

"Yeah, we're all scared…" added Akihiko.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Okay, I don't think we're all gonna be able to figure this out right now, so let's just think about it for a little while longer." I dropped my arms to my sides and leaned my head back to look up at the ceiling. "I swear, between exams next week and the end of the god damn world, I dunno how we're gonna keep our sanity through all this fucking bu-"

The door swung open loudly. "What's all this about the end of the world?"

I turned my he- **OH MY GOD.**

* * *

Author Notes - Cliffhanger because I'm evil! So, who do you all think has barged into the SEES Dorm? I'll let you all guess and speculate because i'm EVIL. And yes, i've invoked a 'The Other Darrin' trope on Roy in reguards to his voice. I actually stopped liking the one I was originally imagining him with(X8/Command Mission Axl from the MMX games) and wanted to change without retconning, so I just used Roy's berserking to mess his throat up a hell of a lot. I mean, it's not technically impossible. But whatever! Expect more of Mitsuru's link in the next chapter along with other stuff.


	47. Back Again

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner, Special Super-Sized 100+ Review Celebration Edition GO!

**Fanfic Reader Guy **- Yeah, if there's one thing I regret, it's that I didn't really plan out Chidori as much as I wanted to. However, I did add some more bits featuring her in this chapter, and I should be able to add more in the future, especially once January rolls around. And you, along with everyone else who speculated, will find out who the mysterious person who barged into the SEES dorm is in this chapter. I'm sure you will all be pleasantly surprised.

**Overlord Duelist** - I must admit, that would be funny to hear Dante say, but sadly I'm not gonna use that. And like I said in the last review answer, I put in more lines for Chidori in this chapter.

**TiFu** - I'm glad you like my story, and I apologize for the cliffhanger, but the wait is over so you can find out what's going on now. :D

**Lunatsu13 **- Ouch, that sucks man. As for your guess about the Dorm Intruder, just read the chapter.

**Despair's Cold Edge** - It was the kind of 'OH MY GOD' you'd say when your might has been blown.

**Astrih Konnash **- Sorry, I don't trust myself trying to draw girls or I would've made a Roy x Aigis picture by now. And yeah, I really should draw more, huh? :T

**eggmiester** - Ugh, don't get started on FEStory please. I'm doing my own thing compared to that, okay? Granted, I have taken some inspiration from it, but still. As for Ryoji, you're probably going to hate part of the next chapter then. Probably. Depends on whether or not you find slapstick hilarious or not... I think...

**Justhere21 **- Ah, to dispell confusion for you, Aigis saw Roy clinging to his mother's body and crying right when she needed something to seal Ryoji in, and thus used him. I'll have to remember to work in a slightly more detailed explanation in a future chapter.

**Cyber Anko** - Jegus cripes, you posted your review right as I was about to put this chapter up, pal! You're lucky I was still working on cleaning it up or I'd have skipped over you! And I'm glad you liked my explanation with the Suppressants. It was actually a pretty random thought, but it made a lot of sense to me so I went with it.

And now, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

Shinjiro Aragaki stood in the entrance of the SEES Dormitory with a huge smirk on his face. Koromaru barked excitedly.

What. The. FUCK.

"Hey guys." He laughed weakly. "How's it going?"

"SHINJIRO!"

WHOA FUCK WHAT THE HELL WAS THA-

**CRASH**

…Where'd Shinjiro go?

"You're back! You're really back!"

The answer to that question is Hamuko just fucking Wesker-Fu tackled him so damn hard they're on the other side of that counter near the door. I think.

"Yes, Hamuko, it's me, and I just got out of the hospital…" I heard Shinjiro gripe. "Please don't hit me like that…"

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, Shinji!" Hamuko popped up on the other side of the counter, then helped him back up. Damn, he's way taller then she is. "It's just… I'm so happy!"

Hamuko latched onto him again and started crying happily. He blinked for a second, then patted her on the back before he looked over at the rest of us. He spotted something and raised an eyebrow.

"Who's the short guy who looks like Roy?" He asked. "And why is Chidori here?"

I sighed. "It's a long story."

Shinjiro shrugged. "I got time."

Wait a second… "Hercules?"

"Yeah." he replied. "Part of why I woke up… Why are you grinning like that?"

"Hamuko's Persona." I began, still grinning. "Is Hebe. Yours is Hercules."

The two of them looked at me funny.

"Is that significant?" Hamuko inquired, looking at me curiously.

"Don't you know?" I asked, grinning wider. "Hebe was Hercules' wife in Mythology."

Ah, the look on their faces when I said that? Priceless. Granted, Shinjiro is probably going to kill me now, but it was worth it.

* * *

The lounge was silent after we finished recounting everything for Shinjiro, who decided to let me live. He just sat on the sofa next to Hamuko with his arms crossed, his eyes closed lightly as his mind processed all the information we'd just given him.

"So…" He began. "I get shot and end up in a coma for two months, and you guys manage to bring about the apocalypse? Geez Aki, didn't I tell you to take care of them?"

"Glad to see I'm not the only one who can snark in the face of death…" I muttered in English.

"How can you be making jokes about this?" Yukari snapped angrily. "We're all probably going to die!"

"So?" Shinjiro asked, raising an eyebrow. "I was knocking on death's door two months ago. This isn't the time to have a huge pity party and cry about how we're all gonna die. Last I checked, none of you were cowards, and I didn't wake up just to be told I've gotta take a dirt nap real soon. That's just not gonna fly with me."

Just about everyone was looking at Shinjiro in silent awe.

"He's right." began Chidori, drawing our attention. "For the longest time, I thought I was going to be dead by this time of year, so I gave up on living." Her expression hardened. "I didn't find a reason to live after all this time just to have it taken away from me by some punk with a scarf!"

"Chidori…" Junpei murmured.

_"Well, I hate to interrupt all this…" _Azren cut in. _"But it's almost midnight and you guys have exams next week, so you might wanna head to bed."_

I looked at my watch. "Hah, yeah, he's right. Let's get some sleep… I can't think well when I'm tired."

Everyone responded with tired murmurs of agreement and started off.

"Wait."

They all turned to look at me. I walked over to Shinjiro, then pulled Mjolnir from its card in my pocket. I raised the hammer up, as if to inspect it, then held it out towards Shinjiro.

"You probably need this more then I do." I grinned. "I was just makin' sure it didn't gather dust while you were gone."

Shinjiro smirked and took the Thunder God's hammer from me. "Thanks Roy."

"Anytime, Shinji."

* * *

Next morning saw some hilarity because Shinjiro's doctors didn't give him permission to leave the hospital, and as such came to take him back. Thankfully Mitsuru managed to convince them to leave him alone before Hamuko lowered the temperature to below freezing.

Unfortunately for Shinji, though, Mitsuru had him go back to school right away. He was only mildly disgruntled by it, but I think that's because Hamuko was making doe eyes at him all morning.

School was boring, as per usual, but surprisingly Mitsuru asked if I wanted to go see a movie with her. With nothing better to do, I just went along with it.

The movie in question? Princess and the Frog. It was okay, but I kinda stopped caring about Disney movies a long time ago. I liked the villain song, though. Hell, I was humming it as we walked out of the theater. Probably because it's got a hilarious parallel to myself, what with my 'friends on the other side' being Igor and Elizabeth.

"It's so easy…" Mitsuru mused as we headed towards the station. "You simply purchase a ticket at a window and you can watch a movie…" She chuckled. "It may sound strange, but I have been eager to experience a film in an actual theater. Even though we sat at the end of the aisle, I didn't feel like my view was compromised in the least… I find it interesting that so much thought is put into the design and construction of a movie theater."

"I'm just glad you enjoyed it." I shrugged.

"Thanks to you, Fortune." She smiled. "I've always felt too uncomfortable to come here alone." Mitsuru sighed. "I don't think I would normally have this type of conversation… But, it seems to me that Yukari is the type of girl who wouldn't feel inhibited watching a movie by herself. She's also more suited to ride a motorcycle…"

"That, I doubt." I said. "And don't you have a motorcycle? Or did you scrap it after those Shadows broke it?"

She shook her head. "No, I decided to have it repaired rather then get rid of it. It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say I cherish it, but I do enjoy riding it when I have time to."

"Mitsuru's motorcycle…" I hummed. "Eh, doesn't have a nice ring to it."

"It does sound strange, doesn't it?" laughed Mitsuru. "Well, that may be because it is."

"Nah, it's just how it rolls off the tongue." I told her. "It needs a cooler name… like the Kirijocycle or something."

"Kirijocycle?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't even know." I sighed. "I just come up with random stuff like that. I blame the American TV I grew up on. Also Batman."

_"Na-na-na-na-na-naaa BAT MAN~!"_

"God damn it Azren, now it's in my head!"

_"Ha!"_

Mitsuru just laughed. "You are an odd person."

"I hear that more often then ya think…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana_.

"Also, I have a small favor to ask of you, Fortune."

Eyebrow. "What?"

"Please let me know when you'll be going to Tartarus." She smiled. "I'd be happy to join you."

I grinned back. "Then let's get back to the dorm and get ready, cos we've gotta get Shinjiro back in shape."

* * *

The announcement of impending Shadow skull smashing was a welcome one back at the dorm, because everyone wanted to get their mind of the looming exams and end of the world.

Once we got there, I headed up the second highest access point with Hamuko, Shinjiro, Ken, and Koromaru for some serious ass kicking. And hot damn, did Shinjiro deliver.

For one thing, Hercules looks like if you took the version seen in the Disney move about him, gave him the same color scheme as Akihiko's Persona Caesar, and had him constantly carrying around a gladius in his left hand. For another, Hercules also hits Shadows like a train plowing through a wall made of styrofoam. Like Castor, he has no weaknesses, but on the flip side he also resists all forms of Physical attacks. Not completely nullify, but resist. He's also got his own Regenerate 3 skill now on top of Power Charge and a metric crapton of Physical attacks to wreck the shit out of Shadows.

To make matters worse for Shadows, Shinjiro displayed a new ability none of us were expecting at all.

"Shinjiro…" I stammered as I stared at where a group of Trooper Shadows used to be. "Did you just make the floor under those shadows rise up and crush them on the ceiling?"

"Yeah…" He replied, equally surprised. "I did…"

I looked at him. "Think you can do it with the walls and ceiling too?"

Shinjiro looked at me with a grin. "I can find out."

Fuck. YES.

* * *

As we have just now discovered, Shinjiro is something between an Earthbender from that Avatar cartoon show and a fucking Jedi. He can, in essence, use Force Push on stuff or just make the ground bend to his whims. It also turns out, to make matters worse for anything that tries to fight us, that Shinjiro also gained the skill Arms Master, thus letting him kick more ass with less effort. I actually shudder to think what he'd do to Takaya if we ever find that prick again.

That aside, once we finished letting Shinji slaughter a path up to the barrier, we called it quits because for some stupid reason the barrier's still there. We basicly have nothing to do in Tartarus now until that damn thing goes away, which sucks. A lot.

Nothing much went on the next day except Mitsuru asking me to help her with something at the school library. She was sorta staring at a bookshelf blankly for a while once we actually got there, though.

"Need me to get a book for you?" I asked.

"…Hm?" She looked at me. "Oh, um, yes please." She indicated a book just out of her reach. I easily reached up and pulled it down for her.

Mitsuru smiled as she took it. "Thank you." She sighed a moment later. "Looking through the literature section made me realize something… There are a low fewer books about marriage and family life than there are romance novels." She looked at me. "Do you think that means the most exciting time in one's life is before marriage?"

"I don't think so." I laughed. "Just a looking back at the few years of life at home with mom and dad I can remember tells me that's not the case."

"How so?"

"My dad was a weird guy." I grinned. "Sorta like me. He took things seriously, yeah, but he still liked to have fun and goof around a bit. Sometimes mom would get mad and she'd try to hit him with something, but it was all in good fun for us."

Mitsuru chuckled quietly. "Sounds like a lively household."

"It was." I sighed contently. "Hell, dad would sometimes bring me along for business meetings of his."

"Your father was a businessman?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Partnered up with an old friend of his and started up a research and development company. Sorta like an American version of the Kirijo Group. Dad was apparently pretty keen on working with other countries, hence why he came to Japan and subsequently met my mom. He settled down over here and sort of acted as a liaison for the company to most of the big corporations over here. Hell, he might've even had meetings with your dad at one point, but if he did it wasn't among the times I went with him."

"I see…" Mitsuru murmured.

"Speaking of which, how's the Group holding up?" I asked. "Still trying to sort shit out?"

She sighed and nodded. "To be frank, the Group is in turmoil over the inheritance issue. To be honest, I'm having difficulty understanding the expectations of the other members." She straightened her posture. "But, I'm the daughter of the head of the Group. I'm expected to lead the company…" Mitsuru looked away sadly. "…even if that requires me to sacrifice something to do it." She frowned slightly. "A 'fiancé' has been chosen for me. He's the new president of one of our affiliates, and he's much older than me."

I winced. She doesn't sound happy about it.

"But, if I agree to the marriage, the future of the company will be secured." She sighed. "He's planning to announce the partnership and our engagement at the same time. Doing so will give the appearance that the company is stabilizing. It's the best solution for everyone involved."

"Except you."

Mitsuru looked at me in slight shock.

"The way I see it, you're having trouble because all the other little dudes in the company are bitching and moaning they didn't get to be top dog when your dad passed away." I stated. "You did, and they don't like it. So what should you do? Grab the reigns of your company and jerk them as hard as you can without letting up. Show those uptight jackasses Mitsuru Kirijo is not to be trifled with."

She stared at me silently for a moment, then smiled contently. "I'll try."

"No." I said. "Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

Eyup, the spooky voices are bored if they're rewarding me for quoting Jedi Master Yoda.

"I'll be sure to remember that." Mitsuru said. "Thank you, Fortune."

"You're welcome, Mitsuru."

* * *

We headed back to the dorm after that, and most everyone else was studying. Hell, even I was studying, though technically I was just helping Chidori so she doesn't bomb the first exam she's had at Gekkoukan. I was quite surprised she came to me for help, actually.

"You really shouldn't be too worried about Mr. Ono's part of the test." I told her as we sat at the table near the kitchen with books strewn about. "As long as you don't mess up on anything related to Samurai or the Sengoku Era, it's basicly impossible for him to flunk you."

"I still cannot fathom his obsession with that particular part of the past." Chidori sighed. "I understand it's impressive, but he takes it much too seriously."

"No kidding." I agreed. "I met him at the shrine with Koromaru once and he had us help him find his USB Drive that looks like a katana. And not a miniature one, fuck no this thing was full size."

Chidori raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I wish I was kidding." I slumped back in my chair. "You think Shadows have an effect on human beings without actually eating their brains to turn them into the Lost? It would certainly explain why some of our teachers are at least partly out of there god damn minds…"

She shrugged. "It could be possible, and if it is then there's nothing we can do about it."

"True, true…" I nodded.

There was silence between us for a few moments before Chidori spoke.

"Have you decided what you want to do about Ryoji?"

I looked at her. "Yeah." I sat up straight. "And I've figured out why he wants us to kill him."

She looked at me curiously. "You have?"

"Or at least the most logical thing I can think it could be." I shrugged. "He keeps telling us we can't beat Nyx. I think it's more like he knows we can, but he wants to trick us into giving up. Or at least me specifically. I mean, he did say I'm the only one who can kill him, and that he's the same as Nyx." I crossed my arms. "By that logic, we just throw everything we've got at Nyx, then Shinji launches me into its face to finish it off."

"You really think it's that simple?"

"Probably not, but it's not difficult to make it sound like it is." I said. "Besides, even if we can't actually beat Nyx, I'm going to fight tooth and nail to the bitter god damn end. At the very least, I hope I cut the bastard's arm off before I get my head disintegrated."

Chidori chuckled quietly. "Junpei always said you were an odd one. Now I can see why."

"Everyone says that about me. It's just par for the course." I shrugged. "And, uh, hey, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

I winced. "You're not mad I kinda smashed you in the stomach with a hammer, punched you in the face, and then threw a tornado at you that one time, are you?"

She paused for a moment and just sorta glared at me. Maybe I shouldn't have said th- why's she standing up? Chidori walked around the table to me and the-

**SMACK _WHAM_**

Oh god… how did I end up near the stairs…?

"Call it even." I heard Chidori say with a content tone as I picked myself up off the floor.

"Ow…" I griped as I staggered back over to the table. Note to self: Never get Chidori angry. "Okay, so where were we again? Somethin' about what Ekoda was probably gonna have on the test, right?"

* * *

Thankfully I didn't have a concussion from Chidori's Ultra-Mega-Bitch-Destroyer Doom-Slap™, so I went to bed a little while later. The next morning I got up a little later then usual and found a commotion in the lounge when I came down after showering.

"But Shinji-kun~!" Hamuko whined, clinging to Shinjiro's left arm on the sofa. "I wanna spend time with you! I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Will you quit doin' that?" He griped, turning his head away from her in a poor attempt to hide the fact he was blushing. "I told ya, I wanna stay in today. We've got exams this week anyways and you need to study."

"So do you!" She countered, puffing her cheeks out and pouting. God DAMN she's good at that.

Shinjiro carefully looked back at her, then turned away quickly. He knows he's weak to her adorableness.

Being the secretly evil person that I am, I snuck into the kitchen to grab a glass of soda to watch the hilarity unfold before me as she continues trying to get Shinji to go on a date with her.

"Please~?" "No." Please~?" "No." _"PLEASE~?"_ **"NO."** "Shinji-kun~!"

_'Comedy. Gold.'_

Damn right, Azren. Shame I can't make some popcorn without them hearing.

"Fortune, what are you doing?"

I gestured to the bickering couple with the glass in my hand. "Watching." I took a sip, then looked at Mitsuru. She was eyeing me skeptically. "What?"

She merely sighed and shook her head. "I was curious as if you wanted to join me to go have lunch."

I shrugged. "Sure." I chugged the last of my soda. "I just got up about ten minutes ago anyway-"

"Hey, you two are going somewhere?" Hamuko asked brightly from where she was standing, desperately tugging on Shinjiro's arm to pull him to his feet.

"Uh… yeah…" I answered slowly. "Mitsuru here was just inviting me out to lunch…"

Hamuko's eyes sparkled at that. "Oh, can we come? It can be a double date!"

**CRASH**

My eye twitched and I was very much aware that I was no longer holding a glass, but rather a compressed ball made from crushing the air around it until the glass was nothing but a fine powder in the span of half a second.

"WHAT." I snarled. "Did you say?"

"Um…" Hamuko stammered fearfully. "N-Nothing!" She looked at Shinjiro. "Right?"

"Yeah…" He agreed quickly. "She just asked if we could join you two for lunch. That a problem?"

My eye twitched again, but I smiled. "No, not at all." I turned and walked into the kitchen, then dropped the ball of glass powder into the trash can before I came back out. "Let me just get my hat and jacket and we can get going."

* * *

The three of them were slightly hesitant around me after that, but I assured them I was fine and I wouldn't crush their heads like I did the glass and they did seem to calm down. We ended up heading to McDucknolds- I mean Wild Duck Burger, though Shinji and Hamuko weren't quite in the mood for that and headed up to Hagakure for some ramen instead, leaving me and Mitsuru alone.

"I think I've acquired a taste for fast food." She mused after she washed down part of her burger with her drink. "Do you remember when I said I was hesitant to meet with you like this…? Well, could you just pretend you never heard that? We both sleep under the same roof; there's no point in worrying about it." She looked away. "And… I should confirm my decision."

"About what to do with the Kirijo Group?" I asked.

Mitsuru nodded, then she looked at me with a spark in her eyes. "Hey, Fortune… do want to see how many places we can visit in one day?"

"What, try and set a record for biggest wasting of time in our lives?"

She cringed. "Well, if you think I'm being selfish, it's-"

I grinned. "What're we waitin' for? Lemme just finish eatin' and let's get to it!"

She blinked, then smiled as well. "Very well. Let's see how much fun we can have today."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

I stuffed the last of my burger into my mouth and washed it down with my drink, then stood up. "Off we go then!"

* * *

We ended up goofing off a hell of a lot more then I expected. I mean damn, it was almost ten by the time we decided to head back to the dorm. Also, apparently Mitsuru kicks ass at those rail shooter games at the arcade. Maybe she imagines she's shooting Ikutsuki. I know that's what I was doing.

Next day was the first day of the semester finals, and like all exams before it, they sucked. Still, despite the constant nagging of the end of the world in my head I'd like to think I still did pretty damn well on them. Once exam week was over, Mitsuru asked if I wanted to go see a movie with her. The possibility of a cheesy movie to take my mind of the potentially bombed exam and other stuff was rather appealing, so I went with her. I'd never actually heard of the movie we went to see, but it was pretty okay. Funny as hell at some points too, which is always a plus in my book.

"I've been wanting to see that movie for a long time." Mitsuru began as we exited the theater. "It was very entertaining. Even though it was a typical road trip movie, the way the characters expressed their emotions was great. The main character sacrificed everything just to go on a journey with his friends."

"And hilarity ensued." I chuckled.

Mitsuru laughed quietly as well. "Indeed. And in the final scene, he decided to return to his normal life." She seemed to be deep in thought. "I wonder if he was happy with that decision…"

I shrugged. "It's possible."

We just sorta stood outside the theater in silence for a few moments.

"Hey, Fortune…" Mitsuru began. "Have you ever thought about going to a place like that… somewhere far away, where no one knows who you are?"

"Well, I DID come here to Japan." I pointed out. "And that's a long ways from where I grew up."

She laughed again. "That is true. You've been here so long I'd almost forgotten. But please, don't misunderstand me; I don't yearn to leave everything behind…" She looked downward slightly. "It's just that, sometimes it's easy to become bound by the things that are important to you. The future of the company… all my responsibilities… I wish I didn't have so much to worry about." Mitsuru sighed. "Sometimes I feel shackled by my family name… However… I know that kind of thinking is not permitted…" She scowled slightly. "Tch, I've become so undisciplined, constantly complaining…" She gave a half-hearted laugh. "I must bore you with all my griping."

"Not really." I said. "I'd actually be worried if you didn't complain at all. It's not very healthy to keep stuff like that bottled up."

Mitsuru blinked in surprise, then smiled. "I suppose you're right…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

I noticed Mitsuru fidget nervously. "Something wrong?"

"Not… exactly…" She began. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Now, hypothetically, what would you think if I told you that I am interested in someone…" She said. "And even though I can never be with him, I can't stop thinking about him…" She looked at me worriedly. "Would that be.. Wrong? …Hypothetically?"

"That depends." I stated. "Is the guy in this hypothetical situation me?"

Mitsuru laughed. "No, Fortune. You're kind, but I doubt I could feel that way about you. And besides…"

"Alright, just checking." I said holding up my hands defensively. "But in that case then no, I don't think it's that wrong." I stuffed my hands into my pockets and sighed. "I mean, technically the same could be said about me and Aigis…"

Mitsuru cringed slightly. "I see…"

"There you are, Mitsuru!"

Our attention was drawn to some over-dressed jackass sauntering over to the two of us.

"I've been looking for you." He said firmly. "I didn't expect to find you here. We're leaving. Let's go."

Mitsuru looked confused. "Wait a minute. I didn't make any plans with you for today…"

"Well, my business meeting for this evening was cancelled." Replied the guy smugly. Must be the prick Mitsuru's been 'engaged' to. "I'm a very busy ma. You're just going to have to adjust your schedule to mine."

"I can't…" she replied, shaking her head. "I've already made plans."

"Well, you can break them." He grunted, folding his arms. "I don't think you have anything more important to do than spend time with me."

_"I can think of about twenty things more important than spending time with this prick." _Azren snarled.

"Quiet, you." I hissed.

I glanced at Mitsuru and she did not look like a happy camper.

"Don't look so sullen. You know this benefits you as well, don't you?" Began the smug jerkass. "I thought you understood our arrangement. Now, you are to be my wife, and you are to be obedient." He sighed. "Why must you and your family always be so difficult?" He shrugged. "Well, at least your father is no longer alive. I am relieved of that. I imagine you feel the same."

"How…" Mitsuru began, trembling with anger as the air started getting colder. "How could you say that?"

"Excuse me, jackass…" I began, stepping forward. "Who the fuck gave you the right to say shit like that? I know for damn sure it wasn't her."

"Fortune…" murmured Mitsuru.

"Who the hell are you?" snapped the guy. "This is none of you business. Get lost!" He turned back to Mitsuru. "Listen, Mitsuru… corporate management is not child's play. No matter how smart you are, you're still going to need my knowledge and experience. And, the Kirijo Group still needs the cooperation of my company, does it not?"

Mitsuru twitched and the air stopped being cold. "Yes…"

The bastard grinned smugly. "Good girl, Mitsuru. I knew you would listen to reason. Now, let's go. I've made reservations for us at a luxurious re-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by my fist connecting with his jaw.

"SHUT." I barked. "The fuck." I cracked my knuckles. "UP."

"Who do you think you are, you barbarian!" shouted the guy as he glared at me as he stopped staggering about and regained his balance. "This is assault! If this is a serious injury, Mitsuru is the one who will be forced to pay the price!"

"Fortune, stop!" Mitsuru quickly grabbed me by the shoulders. "Don't…"

I snarled and crossed my arms, looking away from her fiancé.

"By the way, you!" He began. "What business do you have with her? You should know your place in society. An ordinary person like you is not fit to interact with people like Mitsuru and myself. Don't you understand? You're just a nuisance." He scoffed. "I can't believe this. If you continue to befriend derelicts such as this, Mitsuru…"

"I advise you SHUT UP before Mitsuru decides to let go of me." I growled, noticing Mitsuru's grip on my shoulder lessening quickly. "Because if she does…" I narrowed my eyes as I turned to glare at him. "They'll never find your body."

The guy scoffed again. "You can't do anything to me, you worthless wretch! If you try, I'll see to it that you-"

"That's enough."

That stopped the guy's rant before it began. "Mitsuru?"

"I said that's enough!" She snapped. "I won't let you insult him like that!"

He blinked. "Why are you getting so angry?"

I'd think he should be more worried the air is getting cold again.

"If you insult him, you insult me!" Mitsuru continued. "You have no right to say he should know his place when you can't even compare to the kind of person he is! He lives life on his own terms… and he taught me not to fear the future. He is a dear friend of mine, and I won't let you disrespect him!"

I blinked. Damn. I had no idea I was having this serious of an impact on her.

"What on earth are you talking about?" asked the guy, looking confused as hell. "You're my fiancé! You think I am inferior to this hooligan? I suggest you retract that statement, Mitsuru…" He started glaring at her. "I will only forgive you if you apologize to me this instant! Think about the future of your company!"

"I will NOT apologize!" Mitsuru shouted, further dropping the air temperature. "You don't care about me or how I feel… The Kirijo Group can stand on its own. We don't need any help from a person like you. From today, you and I are strangers. And if you try to do anything malicious, I will use the power of the Group to destroy you." She glared daggers into his skull. "Get out of here, you snob! I don't want to see your face ever again!"

The guy was taken aback by all this. He took a step backward, then turned to run only to almost crash into someone. He looked up at the person slowly.

The dude who almost got knocked over was this grim faced old guy with a few scars on his face. He was in a business suit and holding a cane. He actually looks kinda familiar…

"Y-You…!" stammered Mitsuru's ex-fiancé fearfully.

"If I wouldn't be charged…" Began the old guy, tugging on the end of his cane slightly to reveal it was actually a badass sword cane. "I'd run you through here."

The prick backed up slightly, then took off like a shot around the old guy. I don't blame him, that was pretty intimidating.

The old guy sighed, then re-sheathed his sword cane and bowed. "Hello, Ms. Kirijo. It has been quite a long time."

Mitsuru seemed confused. "I apologize, but do I know you?"

"Ah, how foolish of me." He laughed. "You were very young at the time, and probably don't remember. My name is-"

"Raige Lusnati!"

The old guy looked at me. "How do you know my name? I don't believe we have ever met before…"

My lips twitched into a sly grin. "Oh, we have. It was about ten years back, so you might not remember." I began in English. "I was about three feet shorter then and tugging on my dad's sleeve asking who the scary old guy was in Japanese."

He gave me a curious look, then his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Oh, you're Daniel's son, aren't you? Roy, wasn't it?"

"That's me." I replied. "Been a while."

"Indeed it has." Raige agreed, sounding glad there was someone speaking his language for him to talk to. His Japanese seemed kinda shaky. "I am surprised you're in Japan."

"I could say the same for you."

"Fortune, you know him?" asked Mitsuru.

I nodded. "Yeah. This was my dad's business partner, Raige Lusnati."

"The head of the Lusnati Development?" She asked, clearly surprised.

"That is me." stated Raige.

"How's that prick who took dad's job doing?" I asked bitterly. "Still jerkish as ever?"

Raige smiled slyly. "You know that fellow Ms. Kirijo just chased off? That was his son."

I blinked. "What."

"I broke off my partnership with him about six years ago when I found him stealing money from the Development." He stated. "I have thieves taken out back and shot. Shortly afterward, he married the daughter of the head of a Japanese company that was starting to set up shop in America at the time and took over. It did well, but in the last year they've been having trouble. Out of fear that I would purchase his company, he sought to acquire the Kirijo Group via marriage like he had his own company and intended to use his son to succeed."

I raised an eyebrow. "And you know all this, how?"

Raige just smirked. "You don't get far in the business world without knowing what's going on around you, son."

"If that is the case, though…" Mitsuru began. "Why did you come here?"

"I came to offer my assistance, Ms. Kirijo." He replied. "That man and his son would've run your family's business into the ground, just like they have been their own."

"Your assistance?" asked Mitsuru, seeming a bit confused. "But why?"

"It is simple, really." He stated. "The Kirijo Group is a major player in Japan, much like the Development is in America. We stand to gain much from a partnership, but had that man's company consumed yours, the results would be disastrous due to my history with his father. I came to offer the full support of the Development while your Group gets back on its feet. After all, it's no secret that the US economy is lagging because of our past and present leaders... And the Japanese economy could use a boost as well. In the long term, our countries could end up being greater then at any point in their history."

I raised an eyebrow. "You do realize you're not exactly a spring chicken, right?"

"It seems you inherited your fathers sense of humor." Raige noted with a small chuckle. "But I am fully aware I am not going live forever. That's why my son and daughter will inherit and carry on this plan."

"Well as long as they don't have a crazy friend with green hair who beats up zookeepers with a folding chair while singing Disney songs, they'll probably be okay."

Raige gave me a look of moderate surprise. "So you've seen the video Saito posted of the incident at the Zoo, have you?"

My eyes widened. "What."

"I am acquainted with the person you saw in that video, yes." he told me. "I was actually contemplating bringing him along for this, but if I had he would have taken one look at you and tried to set your hat on fire. It is a nice hat, I must say."

My eye twitched and I felt a sudden breeze. "If he had I'd have torn out his jugular. This hat as a posthumous birthday gift from Mom and Dad."

"I see…" Raige looked at me warily. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, son, but I believe it would be best if Ms. Kirijo and I spoke about our, presumably, impending partnership now."

"Yes…" Mitsuru agreed, then she looked at me. "You don't mind, do you Fortune?"

"Nah, it's cool." I replied, waving my hand dismissively. "I'll see you back at the dorm. I'll let everyone know you're gonna be at a meeting for a while."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah." I said, giving my trademark salute before I started off. "Later days, Senpai. And take care of yourself, Raige."

* * *

I got a few random questions once I was back at the dorm, but they seemed satisfied with my answer of 'Business meeting' so they let it go. Mitsuru returned to the dorm just before ten, and she looked rather content. I'd ask her how the meeting with Raige went, but I can hazard a guess from her good mood that it went very well. Granted, I only met Raige once in the past, but I heard about the Development a few times on the news and such growing up. He was always a stand up guy, and damn good at PR. Never really found out how he met my dad, though. Maybe I should've asked… ah well. Not especially important.

The next day was a completely boring Sunday with exactly nothing going on, but the Twenty-first, the day after, was when results were posted at lunch. I checked them out with Junpei, who was partly convinced he did really bad.

"Dude, Junpei!" Shouted Kenji when we got close to the bulletin board. "Way to go, man!"

Junpei gave him a curious look.

"Look at your score!" He said, indicating the top ten list.

I looked at the scores, starting from the bottom. Yukari was ranked 10, Hamuko was at 9, Fuuka at 7, and Chidori surprisingly at 5. Then I saw the top two scores.

"Dude!" I shouted in unison with Azren.

Junpei got top marks in the class, beating me out by a single percent.

"Well Junpei…" I began, patting my dumbstruck best friend on the shoulder as he stared at the list with his jaw on the floor. "Looks like I owe you a bowl of ramen."

* * *

So after school I took Junpei and Chidori out for a celebratory ramen feast, and we got to return to the dorm to see Yukari still trying to get over the shock of Junpei doing THAT WELL. It was hilarious.

Junpei kept goin' on and on about Christmas, though, and that kinda got me down. It's different here in Japan then it is back home. It's still about togetherness and stuff at the core under all the presents and junk, but here it's sort of like a second Valentine's day. You spend time with the person who matters most to you, and in my case, she's on an island getting repaired after a serious brawl with one Ryoji 'Pharos' Mochizuki.

When I headed up to my room and checked my laptop for the hell of it, Uncle Shane was pestering me over MSN Messenger.

[Hoy, Roy! You know what time of year it is, right?]

I sighed, then sat down and started typing back. [Yeah, I do Uncle Shane. I'm probably not gonna be coming home to see you all, though.]

[Oh hey, you're there!] He replied instantly. I'm not surprised he's up right now. [Well, that's a bit of a shame. I'd come by myself, but I don't got an inheritance paying my way like you do.]

[Ha, true. So, how've you been holdin' up lately?]

[Okay, I guess.] he typed. [Still kinda lonesome without you around to raise a little hell. Speakin' of which, how've you been doin' since that last status update you sent? You seemed kinda psyched. Finally get yourself a girlfriend?]

I winced. [Sorta. She got in an accident and she's in the hospital right now.]

[Oh god… She gonna be okay?]

[Yeah, just don't know when they're gonna let her out. Wanna hear the worst part, though? It happened the night mom and dad died. Same damn time, too.]

[…You okay?]

[Been better. I was so frustrated that night I screamed till my throat was raw and couldn't talk for almost a week. I got better, and now I sound like Dante from DMC3 instead of Axl.]

[Let me guess, you sang 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts' first chance you got, didn't ya?]

I grinned wearily. [Damn straight I did. But seriously though. I'm still kinda torn up about it. I get the feeling she kinda likes me, and I know I like her, but either she's not sure of it herself or she doesn't even know it herself. Or, worse, she knows and can't bring her self to accept it.]

[What's her name?]

[Aigis Tokutate.]

[The hell kind of name is that?]

[She's a blonde haired, blue eyed Japanese girl, Shane. She's bound to stand out anyways.]

[Wow, really? Damn. Her parents foreign?]

[She's an orphan.]

[…Now I feel like a bastard. Sorry.]

[It's cool.]

[You said she's in the hospital, right? You been going to visit her?]

[No, she has a unique medical condition on top of the accident so they had to take her to a hospital that was actually equipped for her.] Not exactly a lie, but I doubt he'd believe me if I said 'She's a robot'.

[Where's the hospital?]

[Yakushima. Ya know, that beach place I mentioned going to with my friends back in July? It's actually the place we met Aigis at, too.]

[Ah. You mentioned it was pretty far away from Iwatodai…] There was a slight pause. [Why don't you ask that friend of yours if you can go visit her on Christmas Eve? Unless… does anyone at your dorm even know you like Aigis?]

[Fuuka does. So does Mitsuru.]

[Mitsuru's the one who invited you all to Yakushima, right?]

[Yeah.]

[Well, then just go ask her if she can get you in to see her. If Aigis means that much to you, you really shouldn't let this stop you from spending time with her. Why do you think your Dad stayed in Japan after he met your mother?]

[…Thanks, Uncle Shane.] I smiled. [I needed a good pep talk right about now. Speaking of dad, you know that old business partner of his? Raige Lusnati?]

[Yeah, what about him?]

[I met him here in Iwatodai the other day. He came to help out Mitsuru's company. I know I mentioned shit going wrong for her once that bastard Ikutsuki tried to do his extra-hostile takeover, right?]

[Yeah. Still glad you shot him.] That's the extent of what he knows about how it went down, though. He thinks me and everyone at the dorm found him psychoticly ranting in the middle of the night on the dorm roof with a gun to Takeharu's head, Takeharu took a bullet for Mitsuru when Ikutsuki tried to shoot her, then I slugged Ikutsuki, took the gun and blew his brains out. [I knew teaching you how to use a gun would come in handy. So, ol' Raige is lending a hand to your friends company, huh? I always knew there was a reason I liked that guy. Well anyways, it's kinda late over here. I should've been in bed hours ago, but I couldn't sleep.]

[Haha, alright. Later Days, Uncle Shane.]

[Later Days, Roy. Take care of yourself and Aigis once she gets better, okay?]

[I will. Bye.] I hit enter and leaned back in my chair with a sigh as my uncle signed off, then I shut down my computer.

Looks like I know what I'll be doing this Christmas after all, huh Azren?

_"Sure does."_ He agreed.

* * *

I went to bed myself shortly after that. The next day was boring, and I figure'd I'd wait till the twenty-third before I asked Mitsuru if I could go see Aigis.

I found Ken and Akihiko talking in the lounge when I got back to the Dorm that evening.

"Oh, hello Roy-san." Ken greeted when he spotted me. "How was your day?"

"Dull." I sighed. "You guys?"

"Same." Akihiko sighed. "We have the day off tomorrow because it's the Emperor's birthday, but I don't have any plans. Do you?"

"Yeah, a few." I shrugged.

"Oh, let me guess…" Akihiko grinned. "You're going to get ready for Christmas, right? Well, good luck on choosing a present your girlfriend will like."

"Sanada-san, how do you even know he has a girlfriend?" asked Ken. "But now that you've brought it up, I'm a little curious…" He looked at me. "Do you have anyone special to spend Christmas with, Roy-san?"

I winced, but nodded. "Yeah…"

"Wow…" Ken said with surprise. "You sound like an adult…"

"Is it anyone we know?" Akihiko asked.

"Like I'd tell ya." I grunted, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

_[-concludes today's news of the Apathy Syndrome epidemic.]_ said the newscaster. _[In lighter news, we join our foreign corresponded live from Rockefeller Center in New York City! She'll give us a look at the Christmas mood in the Big Apple. So, how are thi-]_

_[It's pandemonium here at the Rockefeller Center!]_ Shouted a panicked Japanese reporter as people scrambled around in the background, cutting off the newscaster mid-sentence. _[A local teenager forced his way onto the premises and has begun tearing up the inside of the build-]_

_[Hey, is that a Japanese News Crew I spy?] _came a loud booming voice from off screen. Judging from the lack of a camera pan, I'd say it's on a fixed tripod without anyone behind it.

_[Th-There he is!] _panicked the reporter before she dropped her microphone and ran off-screen.

Moments later, a guy with green hair and glasses and a shark tooth grin appeared on camera and picked up the microphone.

_[Hello~ Japan!]_ He said in nearly flawless Japanese. _[This is everyone's favorite Master of Violence, Seki Cosine, coming to you live from-]_

_[GOD DAMN IT SEKI, GET AWAY FROM THE FOREIGN NEWS CREW!]_

My eyes widened as the green haired guy looked off to the left and smiled wider.

_[And there's my co-host, Saito Lusnati!]_ He began, holding out his free hand towards someone off camera. _[Now, Saito, what do yo-]_

The guy was cut off by a flying kick to the face that sent him off Camera, while the guy who did it landed. He looked at the camera, his eyes slightly obscured by his red glasses. Then he flipped the camera off before he turned, threw his fedora into the air, then charged in the direction he kicked the other guy.

Moments later, a blonde girl with blue glasses wearing a peacoat appeared on screen from the same direction as the last two came, then looked at the camera in moderate surprise.

_[Oh hey, we're on international TV…]_ She commented in English, then she frowned as if in thought. _[Isn't Doc doing something in Japan…?]_ Her eyes widened and she cringed slightly. _[Oh. Well.]_ She moved towards the camera. _[I'll just turn this off…]_

The feed went dead, then the view shifted back to a flabbergasted news crew, who were just looking out at the audience in slack-jawed awe before I shut the TV off.

"What…" began Ken.

"Was that…?" Aki finished.

"You DON'T want to know…" I told them, shaking my head slowly.

_"Yeah…" _Azren agreed. _"You really don't."_

The two of them glanced at each other, then back at me. "We'll take your word for it."

* * *

I had nothing else to do that night after that, so I just went to bed. I seem to be sleeping a lot more recently.

Next morning I got dressed, and as luck would have it only Mitsuru was in the lounge when I got down there.

"Good Morning." I greeted.

"Hm?" She looked up from her book. "Oh, good morning, Fortune."

I fidgeted nervously where I stood. "Uh, hey, can I ask you something, Senpai?"

Mitsuru looked at me seriously, then put a marker in her book and closed it. "What is it?"

"Well…" I began. "Would it be possible for me to go see Aigis for the next couple of days?"

Mitsuru blinked, then she resumed her serious expression. "You do know there is school on Christmas, correct?"

"Yeah, I know." I replied, crossing my arms. "I also know it's a day for couples to be together. I want to spend it with Aigis, even if she's not awake for it."

She just sort of stared at me. I stared right back.

After a few moments, she sighed. "Very well. I was supposed to go to check on Aigis' status myself, but if you'd like, I can send you in my stead."

I smiled. "Thanks, Mitsuru-senpai. I'll go get packing."

* * *

About three hours later, I had everything I needed and was getting out the back of the car that came to pick me up. I sighed, then adjusted my bag on my shoulder and silently stepped onto the boat with Azren floating alongside me.

The boat ride was silent, and I just stood on the deck staring out at the ocean towards my destination. Yakushima. As far as the Kirijo dudes knew, I was sent to get an update on Aigis' repairs while Mitsuru attended to other matters. Means I basicly got a sorta royal treatment, because I'm supposed to be reporting to the head of the company. To make it seem more official, I wore a dress shirt, nice slacks, and a tie under my jacket. My boots stood out a bit, but if I wasn't wearing them my feet would be cold and that bugs me. Mitsuru was also nice enough to supply me with a grey version of Akihiko's vest, sans the emblem on it, so I kinda looked like Azren. I thought it was fitting. He's my true self, I accept that, and so I felt I should look the part.

Once I stepped off the boat, I was led to the room at the Kirijo vacation house I used during the trip back in July. I was supposed to be checking on Aigis tomorrow because of how late I arrived. I had nothing to do, so I just headed out to the beach in the middle of the night. I ended up finding the dock where I saw Aigis for the first time in ten years, but didn't even know it back then. I quietly stood where she did, a slow breeze blowing and causing my jacket to sway slightly.

I looked out at the ocean, watching the moonlight reflect off the small waves and the sounds of them hitting the shore.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?"

I was slightly startled by someone suddenly talking and whirled around. A bespectacled girl with short brown hair wearing a lab coat was approaching me from the beach. Almost reminds me of Chihiro, but this lady's hair is a darker shade of brown and she has a different style of frames for her glasses.

"Yeah…" I agreed as the woman walked over to stand next to me, returning my attention to the ocean. "It is."

"I haven't seen you around before." She commented. "Are you new here?"

I shook my head. "No, I was sent by Mitsuru-senpai to check on Aigis."

"Oh!" The girl seemed to be shocked. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bother you, sir!"

I laughed. "Calm down, I'm not gonna get mad. Technically speaking, that's just the official story. I really asked her if I could come and see Aigis."

She blinked. "Really?"

I looked at her and nodded. "Yeah." I sighed. "It's my fault she even had to come here to get repaired."

The girl looked at me oddly. "Your fault…?"

"Yeah…" I sighed again. "She was trying to protect me from a powerful Shadow, and as you probably saw, it really messed her up."

"Is that so…?" She murmured, then went quite.

The two of us stood there for a while, just staring out at the ocean.

"What do you think of Aigis?" She asked suddenly.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." She replied simply. "What do you think of her?"

"Pretty straightforward, aren't you?" I chuckled, turning my head back to face the ocean once more. "What I think of Aigis…" I smiled. "What don't I think of her? She's kind, sincere… a bit rough around the edges and spacey sometimes, and a little over-protective, but that doesn't bother me. It's just how she is, and I like that about her."

The woman started giggling.

I looked at her again. "What?"

"You sound like Kimijima-san." She told me. "She was the one in charge of Aigis' development after the previous chief withdrew from the project several years go. She was always very kind to her, almost like a mother."

I raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Really? What happened to her?"

The woman flinched noticeably and looked away.

"Something bad, and let's leave it at that?" I offered.

She nodded. "Yes, thank you…" She smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name."

"Roy Fortune." I told her. "You?"

"Kyouka Sayama." She replied.

"You one of the people working to fix Aigis?"

Kyouka nodded. "I'm in charge of her current repairs, actually. I also designed and manage her weapon systems."

I gave a low whistle. "In that case, let me say you did a great job on them. Those finger guns of hers saved my ass more then once."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I take it then that you're a member of SEES?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm the multiple Personas guy."

"I see…" She nodded, then she let out a large yawn. "Oh my, I'm sorry…" She glanced at her watch. "It's getting late…"

I looked at my own watch. "Ah man, you're right. We should probably get some sleep, huh?"

"Yes, we should." She bowed politely. "It was nice meeting you, Fortune-san."

"Likewise, Sayama-san." I replied, bowing as well before we parted ways to head back to our respective rooms.

* * *

I was up early the next morning, and quickly got dressed. I didn't put my jacket on, as I figured it would be kind of warm inside the lab, and simply carried it over my shoulder like Akihiko does his school jacket. I followed the suit who came to get me and I was indeed correct, it was warm as hell in the lab. Azren kept quiet, and so did I as my guide led me through several winding corridors before directing me to enter a specific room. I nodded and went in, finding a couple guys at some screens with data on them and windows with a view of what looked like an operating room.

Aigis was on the table, with several people hovering around as they worked on various parts of her. Most of her normal external paneling was gone, revealing the complex mechanisms beneath.

"Oh, hello."

I looked at the girl from last night, Kyouka, was approaching from the far side of the room.

"Hello." I greeted back. "How are things going?"

"Very well." She beamed. "You picked a good time to show up, too. We're about to try reactivating Aigis."

"I see…" I nodded, a small smile on my face. "Please, proceed."

Kyouka nodded, then approached the computer bank.

"Is everything ready for the test?" She asked over a microphone. The scientists in the room turned and nodded as they finished re-attaching a few things to Aigis. "Very well. I'm sending in Lady Kirijo's assistant now."

Huh? "You're sending me into the room?"

Kyouka looked at me and nodded as the people in there filed out through a door on the opposite side of the room. "It was our belief she would be more likely to react to external stimuli if someone she knew was around to speak to her."

"I see…" I nodded, then I looked over at a door connected to the operating room. "So I just go in through there?"

She nodded again. "If you please, Fortune-san."

I smiled, then started towards the door, but stopped for a second as I passed Kyouka.

"Thank you." I whispered before I continued past, setting my jacket down on the back of an empty chair before I went in. I approached Aigis as she lay on the table, appearing as if she was resting, even if she was missing paneling on her legs and left arm. I looked back at Kyouka from where I was standing.

She nodded, then said something to one of the people at the computer banks. They did something, then she turned on the microphone again. _"Okay. Go ahead and try saying something to her."_

I bobbed my head then looked at Aigis.

"Aigis…" I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Aigis, it's me. Roy."

She stirred slightly, then the sounds of her mechanical body working became quickly apparent. She rolled her head in my direction and her eyes fluttered open.

"Roy… san…?" She asked tiredly.

I smiled. "Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"

She looked away from me.

"Aigis, what's wrong?"

"I…" She began sadly. "I couldn't keep my promise to you… I couldn't…" She shut her eyes tightly. "I couldn't protect you…!"

"It's fine, Aigis." I said, removing my hand from her shoulder carefully. "I'm just glad you're alright."

She looked back at me sadly. "But…"

"But nothing." I stated firmly, grabbing her right hand softly. "You're alright, and that's what's important."

Aigis just stared at me in awe for a few moments before she spoke.

"How…?" she asked. "How… can you be so kind to me after what I did to you?"

I sighed. "I know about that, but now's not the time to talk about it." I squeezed her hand. "They're not done fixing you, so they need you to go back to sleep while they finish, okay? We can talk again when they're done, alright?"

Aigis looked at me slightly fearfully, but she squeezed my hand as well. "Alright…" She laid her head back down, then closed her eyes before she let go of me. I pulled my hand away as I heard the mechanisms in her body slowly stop. I tugged down the brim of my had, then turned and exited the operating room and grabbed my jacket off the chair.

"Are you alright, sir?" Kyouka asked.

"Yeah…" I said, taking a forlorn look back at Aigis before I started out of the room. "I just need some air is all…"

* * *

Author Notes - And there you have Roy's Christmas Eve date with Aigis. Betcha didn't expect that, now didja? Or the triumphant return of Shinjiro "Adios, Asshole" Aragaki with a resolved Persona of his own! I chose Hercules specifically because I gave Hamuko Hebe, and also because, from what my extreme Greek Mythology buff of a friend told me, Hercules died, but was revived as a God by Zeus. This fits with Shinjiro and his original Persona, Castor, very nicely because, in a way, Shinjiro still perished but came back. To make Hercules even more appropriate for him, Hercules died because of Poison that he was unaware was in the Centuar blood he rubbed on his armor, much like how Shinjiro precived he was dieing because of the Suppressants.

And yes, the cameo by Raige Lusnati, and the additional cameos of Seki, Saito, and Lisa was approved by Droplet of Sour himself. I'm not dumb enough to have them appear if he didn't say I could do it.

Also, for refrence, Kyouka Sayama is NOT an original character. No, she's actually from the Japan-only cellphone game 'Aigis: The First Mission' and is one of three original NPCs from the game, though her role is minor. Now, I have absolutely no idea what her personality is due to there being next to no information about her outside of her basicly acting as the weapon shop in the game and a screenshot of her character portrait. Kimijima, who was refrenced by Kyouka, is another, more important NPC from the same game. Like Kyouka and the only other unique NPC, Souta Aizawa, there's not a lot of info about her except she was very kind and treated Aigis like a person, and even gave Aigis her signature ribbon, in addition to a screenshot that has her character portrait. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but as far as I was able to find out Kimijima did something kinda bad and, I think, died or something like that. It wasn't explicitly stated and I have no way of knowing at this point in time, so I'm going to assume it's the 'she died' thing. The events of that game aren't that important because of the lack of information, and also because apparently Aigis had her memories of the incident deleted or something. I'm not sure, but whatever! Stick around, because the next chapter leads the SEES gang into January. And once that happens, well... Let's just say all hell is gonna break loose in Tartarus, shall we? Mwehehehehe...

Oh yeah, and fun fact, this chapter comes exactly 30 chapters after Shinjiro first returned to SEES. I couldn't help but make a joke about it with the title because of that. :D


	48. PreNew Years Resolution

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**TiFu** - Technically, Aigis wasn't even really aware enough to know what sort of state she was in when she saw Roy, and technically she's still not yet admitting she's got a thing for Roy(but that'll change in the Aeon Link). As for Azren, he tends to stay quiet during Social Link scenes and when the situation is really serious. Usually via just poofing into Roy's head and shutting up, unless he feels the overwhelming need to snark.

**Overlord Duelist** - Of course Shinji has no support skills. He's there to kill stuff in ways that are increadibly awesome, like using the floor and cieling to crush them. As for Orpheus, that'll get touched on soon enough. Messiah and Telos will appear, and then it'll(hopefully) all make sense. But to make it less stressful on your brain until then, you know that 'emotional trauma' that splintered Orpheus off? Yeah, that was actually Ryoji getting rammed into Roy's head that caused that. Roy'll figure that out himself when it's time for him to get his Ultimate Persona.

**Astrih Konnash **- Technically Yoda says that, but when I said "don't trust myself to try" I really meant "I fail at drawing women forever and I know it". As for your comment about the weird dream in Chapter 46 and Shinjiro's return, STOP BEING SO DAMN SAVVY ABOUT THINGS. It ruins the fun I have of blowing peoples minds. D:

**Despair's Cold Edge **- If you liked all that, there's more stuff on the way! And seriously. Just wait till we get to January. :D

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I quietly exited the lab room, then traced the route I took out of the building. It was cold outside, so I put my coat back on and started off towards the beach again. Like the night before, I went to that dock and stood there, looking out at the ocean.

"I wonder what she was thinking…" I began suddenly.

_"Wonder what who was thinking?" _asked Azren.

"Aigis." I said. "When she was standing here that day in July. I wonder what she was thinking."

_"Probably wondering where the person her system was telling her to watch over was."_ He shrugged. _"Maybe you should ask her about it."_

I laughed. "Yeah, maybe I should." I sighed contently. "I'm glad she's okay…"

_"I thought you'd be happier you technically got to see her naked."_

I smacked Azren on the back of his head. "Shut up."

_"Ow…"_ He whined as he staggered around in mid-air. _"Jerk."_

"Same could be said of you." I grinned.

Azren grumbled discontentedly for a moment before silence fell between us again.

"Ah, there you are, sir!"

I looked over my shoulder and a Kirijo scientist was jogging towards me.

"Sayama-san was worried because you've been gone so long." He panted as he stopped infront of me. "She sent me to find you."

"I see…" I turned around. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing serious, sir." Replied the scientist. "Sayama-san just wanted to go over some details for your report to Lady Kirijo."

"I understand. Let's go then."

* * *

I followed the scientist guy back to the lab and was taken back to the room where they were working on Aigis.

"Are you feeling better now, Fortune-san?" Kyouka asked when I walked in.

"Yes, much." I replied. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was told you had something to speak with me about?"

"Indeed." She nodded, motioning to the bank of computer consoles. "The repairs are coming along smoothly. In fact, we're likely going to finish before the deadline of the Thirtieth. In that event, we would like to keep Aigis here for some simple tests to be sure she is in complete working order before we let her return to SEES."

I bobbed my head. "Logical enough. Can't be sure you've got everything in working order if you don't see it in action. I'm certain Kirijo-san won't object."

"Thank you, sir." said Kyouka with a small bow. "Is there anything else you wish to know?"

I shook my head. "No, that is all. I'll leave you be so you can work." I bowed, then turned and exited the room.

* * *

With nothing better to due and the fact I'm not getting a ride back to Iwatodai till tomorrow, I just stayed in my room at the vacation house and sketched whatever the hell I felt like. For a while, anyways, then I heard someone knocking on my door.

"Yes, who is it?" I asked.

"Your presence is requested at the lab, sir." replied the person on the other side of the door. Probably one of the maids.

"I see." I set my sketchpad down. "I'll head over right now. Thank you."

"You are welcome, sir."

I still find getting called 'sir' kinda weird.

* * *

I had no idea why they were calling me back to the lab, and when I got there a guy was waiting to lead me to a location other then where they were fixing Aigis. It was a room overlooking an indoor field that resembled something you'd see in Sci-fi movies and shows where they test the prototype super fighting android. Alternatively, the Danger Room from X-Men.

"Good, there you are." someone grunted. I looked over at this moderately bored looking guy with short grey hair and black glasses. Instead of a lab coat, he had on a white t-shirt, a black vest that was left unbuttoned, and some casual grey pants with black shoes. "We can begin immediately."

I raised an eyebrow. "Begin what?"

"Combat drills, what else?" He asked. He jerked his thumb towards a door connected to the Not-Danger Room. "Get in there."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The guy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, it seems nobody explained this to you. Guess that means I have to." He shook his head slightly. "As we repair Aigis, we intend to update her combat capabilities with more techniques to use. However, we've reached our limit of standard hand-to-hand fighting moves and I was told you have a unique fighting style." He looked at me intently. "I want you to show it off in there so we can teach it to her."

I blinked and gave him a wary look. "So… you want me to go in their and break stuff so you can copy the moves I use so Aigis can do them as well…?"

"Pretty much, kid."

I shrugged. "Should've told me that in the first place." I switched to Hariti in my head. "Let's get started then."

"Uh… aren't you gonna change your clothes?"

I looked back at the glasses guy from the partly open door. "No, why?"

"Well…" He began, then he sighed and shook his head. "Nevermind. Just get in there."

I shrugged again, then went into the Training Room place.

"So, what the hell am I supposed to beat the shit out of?" I asked aloud to nobody in particular.

_"We don't exactly have any shadows for you to fight…"_ Began the glasses guy via intercom. _"But got a few of the older model Anti-Shadow Robots working again, so you'll be up against them. Don't worry about breaking them, they were gonna get scrapped anyways so just cut loose."_

"Can do, bossman." I replied, activating the card with my gauntlets in it so I had something to protect my hands. "Let's get started."

A door opened on the far side of the room and three figures stepped out of it. Must be the old Anti-Shadow bots. One was a guy black hair, but from the damage on his face and arms you could see the mechanical bits underneath. His design made it seem kinda like he had a pair of pants on his legs, but from the joints at the knees I can tell it was just some covering stuff. He also had kind of big arms, and his body was primarily dark grey with dark brown trimmings. The other two were girls, one with bright blue hair and the other with sort of pearly white hair. They sorta resembled Aigis, at least as far as the shape of their bodies were concerned. The blue haired one had a light grey body with onyx colored trimmings, and the pearl haired one had a sand-colored body with bronze trim.

"Your opponents are Ares, Atlanta, and Doris." Stated the glasses dude over the intercom. "As you can tell from looking at Ares, we didn't fully fix them up, but they're more then capable of functioning for this. They're also not quite on par with Aigis in terms of mental capacity, but they understand this is probably the last time they're going to be active."

"Affirmative." stated the one with blue hair before she took a combative stance. "We are prepared to fight."

The other girl took her own stance, while Ares just sorta punched his fist into the palm of his opposite hand.

I flinched, but took up my own stance.

"Do not be concerned for us." said the pearl haired one. "If we can aid our sister, then our 'lives' will have had meaning."

I blinked, then nodded. "Alright. If you're sure…"

"We are." Bellowed Ares. "Typhoeus!"

WHOA THAT'S A BIG ROBO FIRE DRAGON RUNNING NOW!

"Tethys!"

HOLY CRAP ICE SPEARS AIMED AT MY FACE BREAK THEM BEFORE I DIE

Sidestepping the attacks from Ares and presumably Atlanta's Personae I darted toward one of the random bits of cover just as the blue haired one, presumably Doris, opened fire with finger guns like Aigis. Okay, think. I'm using Hariti, who has all the same kaja skills as Aigis' Palladion, and Azren's got some physicals I still have access to. Hariti can also heal in addition to Azren's wind and almighty skills. They also want me to fight these three hand-to-hand, so I need to get in and fight 'em off…

_'Use Masukukaja to try and get a semi-Wesker-Fu going.'_

That could work!

I channeled an entire Masukukaja into myself, then darted out from behind cover just as Typhoeus decided to obliterate it with his tail. Damn that's a badass robo-dragon. Also, the Masuku-boost isn't quite up to par with a Cadenza boost, but it's still pretty quick.

"Nereus!"

Wait shit I'm slowing down, what the fuck?

_'Doris' Persona threw a Sukunda at you.'_

Well shit.

I re-channeled Masuku for speed again before Atlanta started sniping with an arm-mounted rifle and Ares began launching fucking GRENADES. I dove in and out of cover until I finally got into a blind-spot and managed to deliver a sneak attack to Ares.

He crashed to the ground, then flipped back to his feet and started going at me with whatever sort of hand-to-hand style he knew. Seems to be kinda based on wrestling or perhaps judo, but I'm not sure and I don't wanna take the time to find out.

"Commencing Summoning!"

I kicked Ares away from me before a Bufula blasted the ground were I was standing. I think Ares is the most powerful out of all of them, judging from how much damage Typhoeus has been doing to the area trying to smash me.

Doris has been sticking to occasionally peppering the general area I'm at with gunfire, but mostly has been sticking to providing support skills for her allies. Considering Nereus was known as a gentle, honest god who's very trustworthy it kinda makes sense he wouldn't be very combative, but I think that marks him as something like Mitsuru's Artemisia, in that it can scan but it's also capable of direct combat. Thankfully it doesn't look like he knows any restorative skills. Also funny that Doris is the name of the Anti-Shadow bot who has him, because that was his wife in mythos.

"Unleashing Persona!"

WHOA DAMN THAT WAS AN AGIDYNE! Yeah, Ares is the strongest. Note to self: take him down first and stop thinking about the metric crapton of mythology crap I've got in my brain nowadays.

_'That seems like a good idea.'_

It does, huh? Okay, let's see, Aigis can make kaja bullets, and logically Tarukaja ones would be capable of causing damage. Now, what about Rakukaja?

_'Deflector Shields.'_

Oh, that sounds nifty. And look, here comes Ares to try and punch my face in! Perfect time for a test.

I took a step back as he charged and me and threw up my arms, creating a wall of purple energy that his fist smashed into.

He staggered backwards, surprised by that, which gave me ample time to surge forward with a Matarukaja-boosted punch to his jaw. He flew through the air a short ways before he slid to a stop on the ground.

"Damage Critical." he reported monotonously. "Ceasing function."

I blinked. I think he's down now. Easier then I expected.

"Summoning Persona!"

Whoa hello, suddenly Bufula! Yay for Hariti's Ice nullification.

"Ice attacks are ineffective!" Noted Atlanta before she rushed at me. Damn, she's faster then Ares is by a lot.

I started exchanging bows with her, blocking her rifle-arm and sometimes using Maraku shields to do it instead. Aigis could probably do it better then I can. Probably.

Eventually, Atlanta backed off and looked at me curiously.

"How have you been fighting without summoning a Persona?" She inquired.

"Channeling." I replied, creating a glowing purple shield over my left arm. "You just have to let your Persona abilities move through your body. The power is lessened, but they still work. Aigis got the hang of it rather quickly."

Atlanta blinked a few times, then nodded. "I comprehend."

She held up her hand, then quickly a small sphere of ice appeared in her palm. She blinked in surprise, then tossed it aside. Must've been a proof of concept for her.

Then she created a bayonet made of ice over her gun arm without covering the end of the barrel.

Well SHIT. That might actually be bad for me.

_'Maybe you should've have told her how channeling works.'_

Too late to complain now! Here she comes!

I started dodging left and right to evade her slashes. I spotted Doris doing… something but I couldn't tell what because I was trying to not find out if that ice-blade on her arm can actually hurt me or not.

I knocked her back, then put up another Maraku wall to block her retaliation when a dark purple beam tore through the shield and obliterated it. I barely had time to register that Doris had just figured out how to counter my new move before I had to Masuku boost myself away from Atlanta, then found myself hit by a dark green beam that slowed me down.

GREAT. Now Doris is packing debilitation lasers!

_'It's your own fault.'_

Oh shut up, Azren.

I whirled around and punched Atlanta in the stomach, then followed up with a kick to her side to knock her away again before I charged at Doris. She seemed surprised by my sudden attack and threw up her own Rakukaja barrier. However, I channeled Marakunda into my hand and punched right through it and into her upper chest, also succeeding in smashing her into one of the random bits of cover littering the room, leaving a visible dent in it.

"D-Damage… critical…" She sputtered, her voice sounding staticy. "C-C-Ceasing fun-c-ction…"

Doris went limp and slumped to the ground, leaving me to square off with Atlanta who IS CHARGING RIGHT FOR ME POISED TO SHANK MY FACE HOLY SHIT!

Thankfully I managed to reflex out a Maraku barrier to block her ice blade, which broke part of it and stunned her long enough for me to Mataru and Masuku boost myself and rapidly punch her before Spartan kicking her to the ground.

"Damage critical…" She said weakly. "Ceasing function…"

I sighed tiredly and fell to one knee. Damn… that was brutal…

"Impressive work, kid." said Glasses dude over the intercom. "Kinda wish they'd lasted longer, but I guess it couldn't be helped. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I sighed, channeling a Diarahan and standing up before switching to Norn for additional passive healing. I looked at the last three of Aigis' siblings, then sighed again and slowly exited the training room.

"So that was channeling you were doin', huh?" asked the glasses guy once I was in the observation room. "Explains some of the combat data we scanned from Aigis now. I'm surprised Atlanta and Doris picked it up as quick as they did, honestly."

"So was I." I grunted, rubbing my arm. "Guess it runs in the family for them, huh?"

The guy chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." He looked at me with interest. "By the way kid, what's your Persona?"

"Which one?" I asked. "My true Persona, or the other twelve I've got in my head as well?"

His jaw dropped. "No way… You're the Multiple Persona user?"

I nodded. "Guilty as charged. I was using one with similar abilities to Aigis' Palladion in there."

"I see…" he murmured, stroking his slight stubble for a moment. "Well, thank you for your help…" He chuckled. "Oh right, I never got your name."

I laughed tiredly and held out my hand. "Roy Fortune."

"Souta Aizawa." said the glasses guy as he shook my hand. "Thanks again, kid."

"No problem." I replied, then I yawned. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed…" I turned and started out of the room, waving absently over my shoulder. "Later."

* * *

And so I did exactly that; Got back to my room and got some SLEEP. Gonna be interesting to see if Aigis really does pick up those channeling tricks I pulled off there, as well as possibly ones from Atlanta and Doris. I woke up around noon the next day and got ready to get on the boat to leave. I still had about an hour before it was going to head off, so I stopped by the lab for one final check on Aigis.

I silently entered the room and stood in the back, watching them work on her. Judging from the amount of shiny parts I could see, I'd say they're close to being done. After watching for about twenty minutes, I took a final look at Aigis before I exited the lab and headed to where the car to take me to the dock was waiting. I hopped in, then just stared out the window all the way to the dock, then climbed onto the boat with my bag once I got there.

One quiet boat ride back, I got into another waiting car and was dropped off at the Iwatodai Dorm. I sighed, bracing myself for the barrage of questions and opened the door to go inside.

First thing that happened? Koromaru started barking happily. Then everyone who was sitting in the lounge looked over at the door in surprise.

"Hey, you're back!" Junpei shouted. "What took ya so long, man?"

I shrugged as I shut the door behind me. "Boat didn't leave till around one thirty today or I'd have been back sooner."

"Is Aigis okay?" asked Fuuka.

I nodded. "Yeah, they're almost done fixing her."

There were a few sighs of relief.

"I'm glad Aigis is going to be okay…" Hamuko said. "She was hurt pretty badly."

"Same here…" I sighed. "God damn, why am I tired? I didn't do anything at all today except a little walking around and standing on the boat…" I shook my head. "Ah, fuck it. I'm just gonna go to bed." I started towards the stairs. "Good night all."

* * *

I'm still not sure why I was tired. Must not have recovered fully from the brawl with Aigis' siblings or something. But whatever. Got up, went to the last day of school for the year, then hung out with Mitsuru on the roof once school was over.

"Nice view, innit?" I asked.

"It is…" She agreed. "So, Fortune. How far along were Aigis' repairs?"

"Sayama-san said they'd be done before the deadline." I replied. "They're probably done right now, they're just running her through some tests to be sure everything's working properly."

"I see…" She nodded. "That's good."

"Yeah."

There was silence between us for a little while.

"Fortune?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel I should… apologize for the incident the other day."

"With that jerk at the station after we got out of the theater?" I asked. She nodded. "Ah, don't worry about it."

"I see…" Mitsuru smiled. "Thank you."

"Like I said, don't worry about it." I told her. "I'm just glad Raige showed up to help you out. How'd that all go, by the way?"

"Very well." She stated. "The partnership was made official on the twenty fourth."

"Nice. By the way, did you catch the news on the twenty second at around eight or so at night?"

"…Unfortunately, yes. So did Lusnati-san."

"Oh geez." I cringed. "How'd he react?"

"He just sighed and rubbed his forehead. I believe he mumbled something about 'regretting not bringing along Mr. Cosine' as he did so."

"I take it he was in a bit of a hurry to leave once the deal was worked out?"

Mitsuru nodded. "He said he had to get back before there was a repeat of the Zoo Incident."

I laughed. "It was probably a bit late for that, but I'm sure he worked it all out. He doesn't carry around that cane of his for nothing, I'd wager."

Mitsuru chuckled as well. "I would have to agree with you there."

"So hey, you made up your mind about Ryoji?"

Her expression hardened. "Yes."

"Mind if I ask what you want to do?"

"Not at all." She replied. "I… will to fight the end. To let my father rest easy knowing the world will live on."

I smirked. "Make the biggest possible ice spear you can and ram it through Nyx's skull?"

She giggled. "Something like that. What about you?"

"I was never debating what to do." I shrugged. "I said right back when Ryoji told us about this I wasn't going to run away by killing him." I grinned. "And it's all his fault, in more ways then one."

"How so?"

"You remember how I said ever since I first got here, I saw Ryoji as a kid named Pharos?" I asked, and got a nod in response. "Well, that night he had me sign a contract. It said 'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will', and he told me it said that I'd take full responsibility for my actions. I chose to fight the Shadows and to assist in the destruction of the Arcana Shadows." I crossed my arms. "Nyx came about because of that, so I feel I have to do something to stop it, and nobody is going to tell me otherwise." I smirked again. "After all, when I came here, it was fate dealing out a Wild Card."

Mitsuru laughed again. "You really mean what you say, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"An admirable quality, to be sure." She said. "And the way you say it… makes me believe you can really do it."

"Well hey, I'm not gonna do it alone." I looked at her. "You and everyone else will be watchin' out for me, right?"

Mitsuru looked at me and nodded. "Right."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Empress Arcana._

"Oh, and Fortune…" She began, digging in a pocket in her skirt for something. "There's something I'd like you to have."

Eh? "What is it?"

She produced a single key and handed it to me.

"It's the key to my motorcycle." Mitsuru said. "I'm not going to run from the future anymore. There's no need for me to." She looked out at the city. "I don't have to think of my motorcycle as a means to escape from my feelings." She chuckled slightly. "I feel bad that I haven't ridden it in a long time, though…"

"Well hey, maybe we can ride around town sometime." I offered. "I'll have to sit on the back, though. I can't even drive a car yet."

She giggled. "Perhaps once we're done fighting, I'll teach you how to operate it."

I winced. "Hoo boy, that's gonna be a disaster in the making…"

"I doubt it." laughed Mitsuru. "I can't wait till then."

"Heh." I looked out at the city again. "Neither can I."

**CRASH**

Whoa holy crap

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Empress Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Alilat, the ultimate form of the Empress Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

WELL. That's a surprise. Only got what, Fool left?

_'Yeah. Judgment as well, if you can find that one.'_

Who knows? If not, oh well. If so, awesome.

"So hey, Mitsuru…" I began. "Wanna grab somethin' to eat on the way back to the dorm? I'll buy."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

"Awright."

* * *

We headed over to Hagakure for some ramen before we went back to the dorm. With nothing else to do but wait, the next day came and went pretty quickly. The day after that, I found Hamuko and Shinjiro in the lounge talking.

"Do you remember when we first met, Shinji?" She asked him as she sat next to him on the sofa.

Shinjiro smiled, despite looking like he was asleep. "Yeah, I remember. You almost fell down the stairs. I caught you by the arm before you got hurt."

Hamuko giggled. "Hard to believe how much has happened since then, huh?"

"You can say that again." He sighed. "I never expected I'd be here right now back when this all started." He glanced down at Hamuko. "Or that you'd be here with me."

She giggled again and scooted closer to Shinjiro. "Me either. I thought this would just be another year of high school. I never thought I'd have a hand in deciding the fate of the world."

"I didn't even think I'd still be alive right now." Shinjiro said with a bewildered expression before it shifted back into one of more peaceful contentment. "But hey, I'm not complaining."

"Aw, are you getting soft, Shinji-kun~?" Hamuko cooed, poking him in the chest.

"Shut up." He grunted, looking away from her and blushing. "Idiot."

"But I'm your idiot, right?" She asked, giving him a sort of pouting look.

Shinji sighed in defeat. "Yeah…"

"I thought so." hummed Hamuko, latching onto his arm and nuzzling against his shoulder.

"What do you think will happen?" She asked after a few moments of silence. "If we fight Nyx, I mean."

"Who knows?" he said with a shrug. "With Roy around, it's hard to tell what's gonna happen. You've seen that guy. If it doesn't go completely opposite to what you expected, it probably blows up."

"Yeah… that's true." She agreed. "But we are gonna fight Nyx, right?"

"Of course we are. You said that Roy's Persona didn't wanna kill Ryoji, right? And that Ryoji said Roy's the only one who can kill him anyways?"

"Yeah…"

"Then we're gonna fight it." Shinjiro said firmly. "Because I remember something he told me once. He said that nobody can change the past, but anyone can change the future. I thought about that for a while after he said it to me. About how I was beating myself up for loosing control and that Ken lost his mom because of it." He looked away from Hamuko. "And I realized… he was exactly right. I couldn't do anything about it. Nothing could change what happened, and I had to accept it." He leaned his head back to look up at the ceiling. "So… I decided to try and make amends the only way I knew how. To fight. To get rid of the damn Dark Hour that caused it. I figured if I at least did that, I could die happy." He laughed. "Still kinda do. Even if I die while we're fighting Nyx, it'll be okay with that. Because I was doing something that mattered and trying to save lives."

"But you're not gonna die, are you?" asked Hamuko.

Shinjiro smirked. "Hell no. Only thing goin' down is Nyx. Even if I have to beat it to death with my bare hands, I'll see to it that it doesn't destroy everything."

Hamuko started giggling again. Shinjiro gave her an odd look.

"What's so funny?"

"You sound like the hero from an anime, Shinji-kun."

He let out a groan. "Idiot…"

I chuckled to myself. All my friends are crazy in some way and damn it, that's why I love 'em. Well, not so much with Yukari, but eh.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without anything major happening apart from me cashing in my huge stockpile of Tartarus gems for stuff at the antique shop. Still no Megidolaon, though, but I'm pretty well stocked on Fusion Gems now. The twenty-ninth was equally dull apart from sitting around the dorm lounge playing games simply for lack of anything better to do.

I was woken up by a knock on my door the next morning.

"Hey, it's me." _**FUCKING YUKARI.**_ "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I groaned, rolling out of bed, then staggering over to the door. I opened it. "What's up?"

"I've got good news, Roy!" Yukari beamed. "Aigis is coming back today! Mitsuru-senpai said they finished fixing her. We'll be meeting in the lounge tonight. Don't forget, okay? See ya!"

Yukari darted off after that, leaving me in a moderate daze as I shut the door. Still tired. Need more sleep. Azren, can you wake me up in like, five hours?

_"Sure thing."_ he replied as I flopped back into bed.

Thanks…

* * *

I took a shower and got changed once Azren woke me up, then gathered with everyone in the lounge just in time for Mitsuru to arrive with Aigis.

"I'm back, everyone." She smiled weakly as she stood in the middle of our little group. "Sorry to have worried you all."

"Man, I'm glad to see you." Junpei commented. "Even though Roy said you were okay, I was getting nervous."

"Me too." agreed Fuuka. "I was almost fearing the worst…"

Aigis looked at the floor. "I'm a machine, so I can always be rebuilt. Even if I was completely destroyed, the programming data necessary to-"

"Don't say that."

She stopped and looked at me in surprise as I glared at her.

"If that happened, and they brought you back like that, you wouldn't be the same." I said.

"Yeah, he's right." agreed Yukari. "Don't talk about yourself like that."

Aigis looked down again. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've cause… Mitsuru-san told me everything that happened on the trip back from the lab… That must have been difficult for you all to hear." She looked at me somewhat sadly. "Have you been well…? I mean, considering the circumstances…"

"Well, apart from screaming so hard in frustration when you got hurt that I actually changed the tone of my voice, I've been okay." I commented dryly.

She flinched. "I'm sorry. It's because I wasn't strong enough…" She looked away again. "Ten years ago, I… what I did to you was…"

"You had no choice, Aigis." I said. "It was either stuff Ryoji into my head or let him run loose to bring about the Fall. I'd have probably done the same thing had I been in your position."

"But…" Aigis began, returning her gaze to me. "If I hadn't done that to you, you wouldn't be suffering like this…" She hesitated slightly. "Ryoji has presented you with a difficult choice… have you made your decision?"

"Yeah, I have." If by 'decision' you mean 'intend kick his bitch ass out the door once he tells us where we can find Nyx so we can throw lightning bolts at her', that is.

"…I have a favor to ask of you." She said, looking down again. "Tomorrow, when Ryoji comes, please…" She looked up at us. "Please kill him…! I can't bear to see everyone hurting like this! Please choose to have your memories erased…! Even if…" she looked down yet again. "Even if it means forgetting everything… and everyone…"

"A-Aigis, what're you talking about?" sputtered Yukari.

"You can't be serious!" Hamuko protested.

"Yeah, this isn't like you." added Junpei.

Aigis just kept staring at the floor silently. I was stunned to silence from sheer lack of belief of what she was asking us to do.

"What's wrong, Aigis?" asked Mitsuru.

"Why…?" She said. "Why did I come back here? My mission is to protect humanity from Shadows. But now, I know that I can't defeat them! So then… why am I here? I'm useless! I cannot even shed-"

**SMACK**

"ROY!"

Aigis slowly raised her hand to touch her cheek where I slapped her, then looked at me in shock along with everyone else.

"Don't. EVER. Say that again." I snarled. "You're not useless. If anyone tells you that you ARE, I will personally RIP OUT THEIR SPINE and beat them with it."

Whoa, okay, calm down. Deep breath, exhale, take a step back. "Sorry."

"Then… you wish to fight?" Aigis began again. "But why? Why fight when you know that you can't win? What is the purpose of that? Why are you wasting your lives?"

"We're not wasting out lives." said Akihiko. "We're just planning for the future." He looked down at Ken with a smirk. "Right, Ken?"

He nodded. "Right."

Aki lifted his gaze to Shinjiro, who nodded in response.

"I… I don't understand…" said Aigis, then she sighed. "It must be because I don't possess a 'life'…"

Junpei laughed. "This has nothing to do with having a life, Ai-chan." He looked at Chidori. "Right?"

Chidori smiled and nodded. She doesn't really say much most of the time, does she?

"I'm a machine, a machine that was crated to protect humans from Shadows." stated Aigis, drawing my attention back to her. "But, I can't fulfill that mission with the powers I was given… so then, what is my purpose now?" She fell to her knees, looking as if she was about to cry. "Could someone please tell me?"

"We don't know the answer, Aigis…" Junpei began. "The only one who can tell you what your purpose is, is you. That's why we're having such a hard time making our decision. There's no easy answer. But, as long as we're alive, we have to do something." He scooted a little closer to Chidori. "When we see others hurting, we want to help them. So that's our purpose."

Aigis looked up at him and blinked a few times. "Can finding one's purpose really be so simple…?"

"It's only as difficult as you make it out to be." said Chidori. "Sometimes it may even feel like your life is without purpose. But, giving up won't accomplish anything."

"I agree." Mitsuru chimed in. "There are also times when you will lose sight of your goal, and you will have to search for it. But if you can't find it again, then you must set your heart on a new goal. To truly live, you will need to make changes sometimes."

Aigis blinked again. "Do you think I can do that? Do you think I can change?"

"Of course you can, Aigis!" said Hamuko, moving over and holding out a hand. Aigis looked at it for a second, then let took it and let Hamuko pull her up.

"And haven't you noticed?" asked Mitsuru. "You've changed so much already. In fact, you're changing even as we speak."

Aigis looked at everyone. As their gaze met hers, they nodded at her. When she looked at me, I smiled and nodded as well.

She clasped her hands over her chest, then looked downwards.

"I know what my purpose is…" She began. "I'm a machine, a machine who is here to 'live'. And the one who has given me this new purpose is… me." Aigis nodded intently. "This is the promise I've made to myself. I don't know how I'll do it…" She smiled. "But I guess that's a part of living, too." She looked around at us all again. "Will you allow me to join with you all?"

"Of course!" Junpei grinned. "You've always been one of us!"

"…Thank you!" Aigis said, her expression brightening considerably. "I will be with you all…" Her expression became determined. "No matter what happens…!"

**_'I am thou… and thou art I…'_**

We all took a step back from Aigis as Palladion appeared in the air above her.

_**'From the sea of thine soul, the resolution of thine heart calls forth new power…'**_

A very bright sphere of orange energy formed around the Persona, forcing me to shield my eyes with my right hand. It vanished as instantly as it appeared, leaving a regal female persona with a large shield and spear in place of Palladion.

_**'Palladion has given rise to Pallas Athena!'**_

Everyone looked at Aigis in surprise as her new Persona vanished.

She just smiled at us all. "This is… my resolution."

Wow… she sounds… different…

"See, Aigis?" Hamuko said, stepping forward to pat her on the shoulder. "You're just like the rest of us. Except it's kinda hard to give you a bruise."

I chuckled a little. "Even moreso now, I'd wager."

* * *

Having nothing else to do, we all just sort of aimlessly chatted for a bit, making sure to confirm what we chose to do about Ryoji before going to bed. Next morning was the day we'd been waiting for. New Years Eve. Ryoji's gonna show up tonight. And, sadly, due to that it means we have to spend however fucking long it takes him to show up doing other stuff. In this case, lacking anything else to do, we watched that DVD set of Koromaru's. Still an exceptionally manly show of awesome.

Just as the credits of the final episode were rolling, there was a knock at the door. I looked at my watch. Eleven Fifty-five PM.

"He's here." noted Chidori grimly.

"I'll get the door." Junpei said as he stood up. He walked over and opened it, and there was Ryoji, grinning that damn grin of his.

"Hey, long time no see…" He said as he walked in and looked at us all. "Midnight's just around the corner…" Ryoji's expression became grim. "At midnight, I will change from this form into something unrecognizable." He looked at us all. "So, have you reached a decision?" We all nodded. "Okay, I'll be waiting in Roy's room until midnight. Come see me when you-"

Ryoji stopped in his tracks and noticed his feet were no longer touching the ground.

"Sorry, no." I said as I held my hand out, channeling Panta Rhei from Norn to keep him immobile. "You're not going anywhere just yet."

I jerked my arm back and Ryoji flew into the empty armchair closest to the front door.

"What are you doing?" He asked angrily. "And what happened to your voice?"

"Shaddup." I grunted. "We just got a few questions for you is all before we tell you what we wanna do. That a problem?"

He eyed me skeptically, but shook his head. "No… it's not. What did you want to ask?"

"Now, bear with me on this, Ryoji." I began, standing up and walking over to the nearby window and crossing my arms. "Let's say that, hypothetically, we chose to let you live and fight Nyx. In that event, where would Nyx be and when would Nyx be there?"

"Nyx will descend to Tartarus on the promised day, exactly one month from tomorrow." He stated. "January Thirty-First. If you get to the top of Tartarus, you can fight Nyx."

I nodded slowly. "I see…" I silently crushed a Cadenza gem for Wesker-Fu, then reappeared infront of Ryoji and grabbed him by the throat. "Aigis, open the front door please."

She nodded silently, then moved over and opened the door for me.

"Thank you." I said, picking Ryoji up as he squirmed against my inescapable grip.

"What…" He choked out. "Are you doing, Roy?"

"Giving you our answer." I said, stopping infront of the door. "We're going to fight Nyx, and that's the end of it." I drew my arm back. "Now get out."

I threw Ryoji out through the front door and saw him roll to a stop in the middle of the street, he staggered up to one knee as I approached the open door and grabbed the handle.

"Best wishes in the coming year, motherfucker." I snarled in English before I slammed the door. I let out a sigh.

**DOOM**

"He still there, Fuuka?" I asked over my shoulder as the Dark Hour settled in.

"No. He's gone…"

"Well, it's official everybody." I said, turning around and spreading my arms out. "Welcome to Two-thousand Ten. It's gonna be a big year. Let's make the most of it."

They all looked at me and nodded.

**CRASH**

Wow, that's just perfect timing.

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Fool Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Susano-O, the ultimate form of the Fool Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

Damn straight it'll never be broken.

**CRASH**

Wait what the fuck?

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Judgment Arcana…_

Well now. That's a surprise.

* * *

Author Notes - And so begins January. And yes, I created three siblings of Aigis' for Roy to fight, complete with Personae. I also changed Souta Aizawa's character a bit, to reflect possible character development after the events of that Cellphone game he and Sayama are from. I figured whatever happened would've caused him to change a bit from the minimal description I was able to find of his personality(He was a huge jerk that didn't treat Aigis like a person, which caused him to be at odds with Kimijima. However, the two were still good friends and seeing as how I'm running off the assumption Kimijima is dead, methinks that would affect Aizawa drasticly). Also, starting next chapter is probably going to be the Aeon Social Link, which I'm sure some of you people have been waiting for ever since I confirmed the Roy x Aigis pairing.

Oh yeah, and seeing as how it's January in the story now, I have a question for all you people who read this: Who's up for shenanigans in Monad? :D


	49. New Year, New Shenanigans, New Link

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**TiFu **- Wait no longer my friend, for it starts in this chapter! :D

**Vivi239** - Well, sadly there's not much in the way of Monad Shenanigans in this chapter, but there are other shenanigans that occur in Tartarus that border upon 'how the fuck did they do that they're not even at the level cap' to which I say 'screw it, I wanna write something funny' and then write funny stuff. At least I hope it's funny. D:

**Astrih Konnash** - Don't be sorry, just stop being so savy! It hurts mah feelin's. ;_;

**Lunatsu13 **- How many bonus points does Roy get for throwing Ryoji out of the dorm? And the only time shenanigans are a bad thing is when you're doing shenanigans inside a nuclear powerplant and accidentally hit the button that causes the place to explode. That would be bad.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - No, Koromaru's DVD set is for a TV Show he likes called 'True Battles of Real Men'. If it was Gurren Lagann, I would've said it was. About the only refrence I might make to Gurren Lagann in this story is to songs from it, and if I don't do it in this story I'll do it in my P4 story.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

"Happy New Year, Senpai!"

I looked over at Ken from my spot at the table. "Happy New Year!"

"Let's make this the best year ever!" Ken smiled as he approached. "It's New Years, but there's nothing really special to do."

"Well, you can always wish people a New Year's greeting…" suggested Aki as he sipped a cup of coffee. "Like, 'Have a great year'!"

Ken nodded in agreement, then crouched down to pet Koromaru. "Happy New Year to you too, Koro."

He barked in reply as Shinjiro and Junpei appeared from the stairs.

"Oh man… I completely overslept." complained Junpei as he sat down next to me. "Why'd I stay up all night watching that stupid movie with Shinjiro-senpai…?"

"Hell if I know…" Shinji grunted, then yawned as he walked into the kitchen muttering about coffee.

I just laughed quietly and shook my head.

"So, um…" Ken began. "Is anyone gonna visit the shrine?"

"No." replied Aki. "I don't believe in superstitions."

"Me either…" yawned Junpei.

I just shrugged.

"Oh, that's too bad." commented Ken. "Yukari-san and the others are already there. They're all wearing kimonos."

"Anybody wanna come with me to the shrine?" I asked, having Wesker-Fu'd up to my room for my hat and jacket the moment Ken finished talking and was now standing near the stairs putting them on.

"Sure." Junpei grinned, looking completely awake now.

"I'll come with you." added Akihiko, heading to put his empty mug into the kitchen. "What about you, Shinji?"

"Yeah, sure." I heard him agree. "Got nothin' better to do."

"I'll go too!" Ken chimed in.

Koro barked excitedly. _(Me too!)_

"Alrighty then." I said, clapping my hands once. "Let's get going."

* * *

So the six of us headed over to the shrine to meet up with the SEES girls. Once we got there and up the steps, we found Aigis, Fuuka, Hamuko, Chidori, Mitsuru and Yukari all walking towards us.

"Happy New Year!" they greeted us. Their kimonos matched up with what I was expecting, minus Yukari's and Aigis'. Fuuka's was blue, Yukari was in red, Aigis in pink(she looks so cute you don't even know), Hamuko in orange, Chidori in grey, and Mitsuru in black.

"Let's all do our very best this year!" said Yukari with a grin, but it faded into a look of disappointment. "Hey, you guys are late. We were just about to leave."

Either Junpei was speechless from the sight of them all, or it was just Chidori. Gotta say, she cleans up very nicely. Then again, same could be said for all the girls. Aigis especially, though.

"What's the matter, Iori?" asked Mitsuru.

"Huh?" Junpei snapped out of his trance and blushed. "Oh, um, n-nothing!"

"Um, I've never worn a kimono before…" Fuuka commented, looking over herself. "Does my sash look okay?"

"It's fine, Fuuka." I replied. "You look great, by the way."

She started blushing. "Geez…"

"See, Fuuka?" Hamuko said triumphantly. "I told you at least one of the guys would say you looked good." It was only then that she noticed Shinjiro hadn't taken his eyes off her the entire time and she started blushing as well. "Um, Shinji-kun… stop looking at me like that…"

"Huh?" He blinked, then blushed as well and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, sorry…"

Damn, Hamuko. You have pierced his shell of pure badassitude with your cuteness. I am impressed.

"This traditional clothing is quite interesting." noted Aigis. Her voice seems to have lost that monotone it used to have. "However…" She seemed embarrassed all of a sudden. "It's quite difficult to move in…"

"I agree…" added Chidori, looking equally embarrassed.

"It's official." Junpei declared suddenly. "New Years kicks ass!"

"Damn straight." I agreed. "But aren't you guys cold? I mean, those kimonos don't look very well insulated…"

"A little, but I love this time of year…" Yukari commented, then she gave me a pointed look. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothin', just curious." I replied. "Why? Were you expecting a perverted comment?"

"Kinda…" She admitted. "But that's more the thing we'd get from Ryoji-kun…"

"Hah, yeah." laughed Junpei. "I can imagine what he'd say. 'Hey, is it true you girls aren't wearing anything under those?'"

"And then Yukari crushes his foot?"

"I'd punch him into orbit."

"THAT…" I began. "I would pay to see."

* * *

We all sort of hovered around the shrine for a little bit longer before we started back to the dorm.

"What did you wish for, Fuuka?" Yukari asked as we walked down the shrine steps.

"I… I wished for a great year." She replied. "It's a bit generic, but that's what I really want."

"That's what I want as well." said Mitsuru.

"So do I." chirped Hamuko as she clung to Shinjiro's arm.

"How funny… We all wished for the same thing." Yukari commented somewhat absently. "What about you, Chidori?"

"Hmm?" She looked over at Yukari. "Oh, I didn't make a wish."

"Why not?" asked Junpei.

"Because I don't need to." She replied, looping her arm around his.

Junpei's face reddened slightly and he sorta looked away from her.

_'That seems like something out of a sappy romance story.'_

Oh, be quiet you.

* * *

So, first order of business when we got back to the dorm? Official SEES meeting.

"Alright everyone." I began as we gathered in the Command Room. "It's official. Nyx is coming at the end of the month and we're going to punch it in the face till it either goes away or dies horribly. Preferably that second thing. But, going into this, I want you all to realize something." My expression turned serious. "There's still a chance that we're not going to make it out of this battle alive."

"We know." Akihiko stated. "But I don't think we're going to change our minds."

"I don't want you to." I shrugged. "But, that aside, I want you all to just go along with me on this little train of thought I've got at the moment." I leaned back a little. "Now, let's say that, hypothetically, Ryoji was absolutely right and we're all going to die fighting Nyx. I'm not saying that he is right, but if it was, thus making this our last month alive, what the hell would you all do?"

Everyone gave me a confused look.

"Look, we're a group of Japanese High School Students who fight monsters in a space-time distortion that turns our high school into a demonic tower, and in our group is an android, a dog, and an elementary school student and all of us have superpowers." I crossed my arms. "Now, again assuming this really is our last month alive and seeing as how we'll be spending a lot of time fighting said monsters, what would you do with your powers?"

There was silence for a moment, then Junpei spoke up.

"I'd make a huge Kamehameha out of fire and burn the hell out of them!" He proclaimed.

I pointed at Junpei. "THAT is what I mean." I grinned widely. "I want all of you to take a lesson from Junpei here. If this really is our last month to live, I want you all to cut loose. Go crazy. Try to see what sort of insanity you can unleash with the powers your Persona gives you. Do the kind of stuff you wished you could do as a little kid and just have fun with it."

"Are you sure that's wise, Fortune?" Mitsuru asked. "This is a very serious situation…"

"Yeah, I know." I scoffed. "But just because we're going up against some nigh-omnipotent being out to wipe out all life on the planet doesn't mean we can't have some fun while we wait for the damn thing to show up." I clapped my hands together, then started rubbing them back and forth. "SO. With that in mind, we're headin' to Tartarus tonight!"

"What about that barrier that was blocking us, though?" inquired Hamuko.

My cellphone rang at that exact moment before I could respond. I opened it and the caller ID said 'Velvet Room'.

I hit the speakerphone button on it. "Hello?"

_"Hello?"_ asked a familiar voice from the other end of the line. _"This is Elizabeth. I'm calling to inform you of a change in Tartarus… I believe a path that was blocked is now open, and I thought you might like to know. I wish you a safe journey."_

The called ended, then I flipped my phone shut and tucked it into my pocket.

"Well there ya go." I smirked. "Now c'mon, let's get going! We've got ass to kick."

* * *

So we all headed to Tartarus and went up to the highest floor. Like once before, I said 'fuck it' and brought up everyone, even Fuuka. I also gave her the Megidola card I got from Thanatos, making sure to have made copies for myself incase I felt like teaching it to some of my 'sonas, because I want to see the kind of havoc her Oracle move will let her wreak with that thing. Megido let her nuke an entire floor. Megidola might let her nuke three at once.

Also, the final block of Tartarus, Adamah, is shiny. Like, really shiny. It's all crystalline and stuff. Actually pretty awesome.

"So Fuuka…" I said as we started down the first hallway of the place. "Can you get a read on the next Guardian?"

_{I found it!}_ She replied instantly. _{It's on the Two-Hundred Twentieth floor! …Wait… It seems there aren't that many of them left!}_

"Are you sure, Yamagishi?"

_{Positive!}_ Fuuka affirmed. _{There's only around five more!}_

"Kickass." I smiled evilly. "Let's charge through these assholes, everyone."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Judgment Arcana…_

I'll hafta see about making some Judgment 'sonas once we tear through a few of these guys…

* * *

First thing I planned to do in Tartarus was find a hallway full of Shadows and do something crazy. I have just found myself a hallway with a bunch of Shadows in it.

"Stay back a second guys." I said. "I wanna try something."

The Shadows in the hallway hadn't noticed me. Good thing, too. They're second tier versions of the Trooper Shadows, who have extra detailing on the helmets like an antenna or horn or something and slightly different styled armor. I've personally taken to calling them Captains because I'd seen a Magician one ordering around some regular Magician Troopers a couple floors before we got to where the last barrier used to be. To make things worse, actually, I'd seen the Chariot and Justice versions of the Captain Shadows on the last floor and those bastards resemble the Arcana Shadows of their respective Arcanas, just with their masks on their chests like badges instead of their faces. As you can expect, they're massive pains in the ass.

Anyway, let's give this a shot.

I switched my Persona, then held up my right arm.

I shouted as glowing energy appeared around my hand, drawing the attention of the Shadows.

**"Kohryu…!"** I bellowed, holding my fist infront of my face before I quickly drew my arm back. _**"METSUGASHOU!"**_

I punched forward and through Kohryu's persona card, sending the massive gold dragon down the hallway wreathed in fire and lightning. End result? Everything in the hallway was dead and it was AWESOME.

"Dude!" Junpei exclaimed. "Was that Flynn's Mystic Arte?"

"An attempt at it, yeah." I shrugged, then I looked back at him. "You wanna try doing that other one he's got?"

"Hell yeah I do!"

"Fuuka, there another big hallway on this floor?"

_{Um… yes, go right at the end of this one…}_

"Thank you." I grinned. "Let's go, Junpei!"

"Way ahead of ya!" He shouted as he charged past me, Flames bursting to life around the blade of the sword Balmung in his hands. "Here we go!"

He slashed three times at something right as he rounded the corner, meaning there was a Shadow that just barely managed to not get obliterated by my attack, then he leapt backwards and sort of landed on a small insta-platform he probably made out of Marakukaja.

**"Enha!"** He yelled, more flames enveloping his blade before he swung it upwards and launched a massive fireball down the hallway. _**"HOYOKUSHOU!"**_

The rest of us caught up with him as he landed on the floor with a huge grin, then we all looked down the hall infront of him. It was still smoldering from the hilariously over-the-top amount of fire Junpei threw down it.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" He shouted. "Dude, wanna see what else we can rip off from that game?"

"YES."

* * *

The next three floors saw myself and Junpei having far too much fun ripping off Tales of Vesperia. We even obliterated part of one of the floors when we imitated that joint Mystic Arte Yuri and Flynn can use. I'm not entirely sure how we managed it, but Junpei speculated it was the sheer amount of awesome. I completely agreed.

The floor after that, I stuck around near Aigis to see Athena in action. Aigis was already a Shadow's death sentence before. Now, though? She's even worse for Shadows. Primarily because Athena has Diarahan and, apparently, Samarecarm to support allies on top of her Ma-kajas and physical attacks. She's also completely immune to piercing physicals now, which is really neat. Her physical attacks also hit damn near as hard as Shinjiro's do on top of all that, so in short Aigis is now One-Hundred Percent Badass Adorable. FOREVER.

Anywho, when we got up to the first Guardian in Adamah, Shinjiro decided to not fuck around wasting time on them and basicly dropped part of all the floors above us on them so I didn't even see what the damn things looked like. Okay, so maybe it wasn't part of the however many remaining floors, but he still crushed them under the ceiling in an instant. It was hilarious. And also caused the Judgment Link to strengthen, surprisingly.

We pressed onward a few more floors, somehow causing the Judgment Link to strengthen yet again, before Hamuko suddenly stopped us.

"What's up?" I asked her as she blocked our path.

"Do you all know what killed the Dinosaurs?" She asked us.

The hell is she-

_"DE ICE AGE!"_ She exclaimed, then I think she somehow managed to Heat Riser herself beyond the power boost of a Mind Charge or something and **FROZE THE ENTIRE FLOOR OF TARTARUS** we're on with a huge grin on her face.

I had no idea she's seen Batman and Robin, or that she thought AHNULD as Mr. Freeze was funny.

"Arisato…" Mitsuru began, sounding slightly annoyed. "It was a meteor hitting the planet that caused the extinction of dinosaurs."

"Technically the meteor _CAUSED_ an ice age."

"Fortune…"

"Shutting up."

"Tch." Shinjiro grunted. "To hell with this."

What is he-

**CRASH**

HOLY FUCK SHINJIRO JUST BROKE THE ENTIRE FLOOR, WALLS AND ALL. Wait a minute… is that…? Oh son of a bitch…

"God damn it, Shinjiro…" I groaned. "Now we can't get to the stairs!"

Shinji looked at me, then over at the stairs a good distance away from us. "…Shit."

"Mitsuru-senpai, a little help please?" asked Hamuko as she started making an ice path in the direction of the stairs.

"Certainly." answered Mitsuru, following after her and adding her own mastery of ice to speed up the process.

"Don't forget railings." I added, walking a step behind them and making railings of ice with Mabufudyne skills. "It'd suck to fall off this."

"Y-Yeah…" Yukari hesitantly agreed as she, presumably, trailed behind the three of us with Ice Skills as we made our way over to the stairs with everyone else.

Hamuko's flash freeze also effected the stairs a little, so she had to make new ones out of ice for us to use. She went up first with Shinjiro and Koromaru, then Mitsuru followed with Akihiko, Ken, and Fuuka. Chidori and Junpei went past me as I kept the ice bridge stable.

"WHOA-OOF!"

I looked over as I helped Aigis up the ice steps to see that Yukari had managed to slip and fall backwards onto her ass. And not a single fuck was given by me.

_'Not that one was ever going to be given in the first place.'_

Very true, Azren. Very true.

* * *

Once we all got up to the next floor, we continued our blitzkrieg up the tower, but I got everyone to stop once I peeked around a corner.

"What's the matter, Fortune?"

I grinned evilly. "You guys remember those Gigas Shadows, right? The big wrestler dudes?"

"Yeah…" responded Akihiko, sounding confused. "Why?"

"Well, there's one down this hall that looks like that one we fought as a Guardian a month or two back. You know, the big white one with the red tattoos? This one's purple, though. With green tattoos."

"So, why are we stopping?" asked Junpei. "Let's go kill it!"

"I'm stopping you because I wanna do something hilariously awesome." I said over my shoulder. "It'll work a bit better seeing as how it's not looking at us right now."

"Well, hurry up." grunted Shinjiro. "I'm not gonna wait here all night."

"Yeah, yeah…" I commented dismissively. "Alright…" I took a step around the corner and switched to Kohryu, then let my right hand burst into flame. _"HERE I GO! THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED!" _I held the firey hand infront of my face. _"IT'S LOUD ROAR TELLS ME TO GRASP VICTORY!"_

I heard Junpei shouting 'Go Roy! Crush its head!' behind me as I ran at the Gigas.

_"ERUPTING! BURNING! FINGER!"_ I jumped up and grabbed the Gigas by the face, slamming it into a wall. _"AND NOW! HEAT END!"_

I crushed the Shadow's head with my hand while simultaneously blowing it up with a Ragnarok channeled right into its face.

I landed on the ground and turned around to look at everyone as the shadow dissipated behind me.

"Well, it looks like I…" I began, creating a pair of sunglasses out of Rakukaja and putting them on. "Just blew his mind."

On cue, Azren evoked himself, shouting 'YEAH' at the top of his lungs for about three seconds before he vanished.

Everyone just kinda stared at me with an expression that said 'what the fuck'.

I raised an eyebrow. "What? I said I was gonna have fun with this."

Akihiko started to say something, but thought for a second and shook his head.

"RIGHT THEN!" I said suddenly, my kaja-shades vanishing. "Let's move on, shall we?"

* * *

A few more floors up we found the next Guardian. Buncha snake things.

"Ugh…" I groaned. "I don't wanna deal with these…" I looked over my shoulder. "Hey, Fuuka, think you can nuke these guys with Oracle?"

_{I'll try, just give me time to prepare.}_

"Alright." I responded. "Let's go, people!"

Akihiko and Koromaru were the first ones to spring into action, Aki dropping a Maziodyne on them and Koromaru fucking somersaulting into another and cutting it with his knife, then getting back before it attacked him. Aigis and Yukari started sniping with their guns and arrows respectively while Hamuko and Shinjiro unloaded with Persona physicals as Chidori and Junpei ran up and hacked away at them. As for me and Ken, we weren't doin' very hot so we hung back and stuck to healing everybody.

_{It's ready!}_ Fuuka announced. _{Please watch out! I'm deploying Oracle!}_

Everyone close by the Shadows sprinted back towards the rest of us just as a sphere of energy shot out from Juno, then exploded brilliantly once it was in proximity to the Shadows, temporarily blinding all of us.

"HOLY CRAP!" shouted Ken once the light died down and we all could see again.

I think 'Holy fucking overkill, Batman' would've been appropriate, but that works too. Where the Shadows used to be is just a hole in the ground. I walked over to the edge and looked down and could see that the explosion went off like a laser kill sat strike and blew a hole straight downward about nine floors. I looked up and it was more of the same.

Shinji gave a low whistle. "Never knew you had it in ya, Fuuka."

"You should've seen what happened when I went to fight the Reaper." I told him. "She blew a damn hole in the tower."

He gave another, more impressed whistle. "Damn."

"I thought the exact same thing." I yawned. "But right now I just wanna get out of here and go to bed…"

"You probably shouldn't have tried to do all that stuff you did, Roy-kun." Hamuko giggled.

"Yeah, yeah…" I groaned, starting towards the teleporter. "Let's just get out of here before the Dark Hour ends…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Judgment Arcana…_

Oh shut up. I'm tired… I'll deal with you more later… 'er somethin'…

* * *

We headed back to the dorm and zonked out for the night. Once I got up, showered, and got dressed, I let everyone know we're takin' the entire day off to relax after the extreme Tartarus Raid we had last night and would head back tomorrow. I also said I was gonna see about getting new gear from Kurosawa, so I headed out to the mall with Aigis, who requested to tag along with me.

Naturally, I didn't mind so we left together. I got a little weirded out by all the posters that just seemed to have just sprung up all over town, but mostly just ignored them. We got some new stuff from Kurosawa, then I headed to the Velvet Room again for a Fusion Rampage.

First Persona was Gabriel, an Empress Arcana Personae who was pretty good with ice. Once I fused it, though, it gave me an Item Elizabeth identified as the 'Frozen Stone', and I could tell it nullifies Ice, which finally lets me give Akihiko a way to cover his weakness. I didn't keep Gabriel around, and instead fused it into Yurlungur, the Ultimate Temperance Persona who is even better with Ice and is a damn good healer on top of that.

Another 'sona I fused out was Cybele, the Ultimate Lovers Arcana Persona. Unfortunately for it, it was mostly a healing-based Persona, and Yurlungur was just as good at healing and can freeze stuff so I just fused it away because it's useless. Attis, the Ultimate Hanged Man Arcana Persona, was actually much more useful. Granted, it has a healing focus as well, it's also got impressive defenses, Resisting all kinds of Physicals and learning Repel Light to cover its only weakness, plus due to how I fused him out, he has all the kaja support skills, and he has this awesome ability called Enduring Soul that basicly wakes my ass back up and heals all my wounds if I get knocked out. It only works once in any given battle with Shadows though, so I'll still have to be careful but damn, that's handy. And because I used Cybele in an earlier part of the process that got me Attis, he inherited Spell Master so his support spells can be used without as much of a drain. Its awesome.

Next up was Abaddon, a Devil Arcana Persona who has an insane amount of resistances and all the -nda debuff spells to weaken enemies. He's an incredible defensive powerhouse, boasting a natural immunity to Fire and Darkness and learning skills that Nullify all types of Physicals. Add to that me replacing his last two skills, via Skill Cards, with Null Ice and Null Light to cover his weaknesses, the only stuff that can hurt me when I'm using him are Wind, Electricity, and Almighty skills. Apparently he has one more skill to learn, and it'll cause Strike Physicals to heal me instead of hurt me, which can only be freaking epic and hilarious. I could get punched in the face and have get a broken arm fixed! Well, maybe not, but if it did happen I could totally laugh my ass off. To add to his epicness, he's got a Heart Item of his own, and I can't wait to find out what it is.

I pulled Kohryu, Thanatos, Norn, and Uriel back out of the Compendium because they're still awesome Personae, and I had a crazy idea for a Fusion using some other 'sonas in a three-way spread and am just about to see what I'll get from it. It's probably going to be awesome.

* * *

I exited the Velvet Room and power walked right past Aigis as quickly as I possibly could, mostly ignoring her worry as I marched straight into the Antique Shop.

"Hello there." greeted the lady behind the Counter as I approached. "What can I do for you today?"

I summoned a Persona card and crushed it, calling for an unholy abomination against all things right with the universe with the most blank, yet still angry expression possible on my face. It was the result of what Igor called 'a Fusion Accident', and instead of whatever Persona I would've gotten, I got THIS thing.

"I don't care what you do with this." I said flatly, pointing at the Persona I summoned. "Just get it the FUCK out of my head."

The antique lady was looking at the freakish thing with wide eyed horror and a bright red face, but she quickly composed herself. "Y-Yes, I'm sure I can use this for… something…"

She pulled her Persona-Vacuum thing out and siphoned in the Persona known as Mara.

"Sorry about that." I sighed once I no longer felt that damn thing inside my brain. "Now, can I trade for some of your stuff?"

* * *

Once I came back out with more Fusion Spell gems and other supplies in hand, I calmed Aigis down from her slight panic before I headed back into the Velvet Room to do a quick bit of creative fusing.

Now, Kohryu is an awesome Persona but he's not quite as proficient with Fire as Uriel is, so I went on a dedicated mini-fusion rampage that ended with me having a new and improved Uriel with Ragnarok, Fire Boost, and Samsara. To further up the newfound awesome of this Persona, I used other skill cards I had to give it Fire Amp and Hama Boost, so now I've got Fire and Light covered with that Persona.

However, Elizabeth actually suggested I try that Fusion that went screwy last time and in doing so got myself Seiten Taisei of the Tower Arcana. He's a pretty damn epic Physical attacker, and he also gave me a Heart Item that Elizabeth said is called the Mystic Rock… and that it nullifies Piercing physicals. Yeah, it turns out she was wrong about the one I got from Chernobog and that thing actually nulls Slash physicals, so we've been insanely lucky that Chidori hasn't been hit by any pierce attacks, or basicly any physicals for that matter, since I gave her that so I should probably give her this one so Junpei doesn't get pissed off at me for almost getting his girlfriend killed. That would suck. I'm not even sure how I missed that, so I'm ashamed of myself.

Once all that was taken care of, Aigis and I returned to the Dorm. I gave Akihiko the Frozen Stone, and then ended up apologizing to Chidori for giving her the wrong thing that didn't even protect her like I said it would. She smacked me upside the head and called it even. I think she likes hitting me or something, because that's twice now I've spoken to her and gotten a head injury. Whatever the case, nothing of note happened apart from everybody at the dorm mentioning that the posters all over town were weirding them out as well and I just went to bed.

The next day was likewise dull until it was time to head back to Tartarus, and once again the whole crew went up with me. The hole Fuuka made last time was gone, which only moderately surprised us as we started our charge up the tower. We tore through the Shadows quickly, and got to the next guardian who barely managed to count as a fucking speed bump because of how quickly a combined Persona Physical assault from Shinjiro, Junpei, Aigis, and Hamuko obliterated the damn thing. I'm serious, as soon as the bastard was in our line of sight, they fuckin' ANNIHILATED it and once again got blessings from the Judgment Arcana.

We climbed further up, growing steadily more powerful as the Judgment Arcana again said I was gonna be gettin' some serious power boostage on Personae of the same Arcana. The next set of Guardians, though, were massive pains in our collective asses.

It was a trio of Cyclops-type Shadows, these big ugly Hanged Man Arcana things chained to giant buzz saw things, who threw around the strongest physical attacks possible for them to throw at us like said skills were going the fuck out of style. I kept Attis up through most of the fight and focused on healing and support skills with Akihiko and Ken because these things were immune to Zio skills. They also resisted Strikes, Slashes, and Agi skills, but Junpei had a move that solved that last problem so him, Chidori, and Koromaru were roasting those bitches while everyone except Shinjiro threw their own flavors of elemental death at the Cyclopses till they died, and the Judgment link boosted yet again.

It was a surprisingly short amount of time before we found the final Guardian of Tartarus, a weird lookin' thing Fuuka identified as the Jotun of Grief. Fittingly as the final obstacle before 'Death', it's of the Hanged Man Arcana. Now, I went into the fight expecting this thing to be a complete and utter bastard to kill. I was almost completely wrong. This thing absorbed any sort of attack we threw at it, except Piercing attacks. However, Junpei pulled out that Fire Break skill of his and set about burning it. Then Mitsuru added in Ice Break to make it not absorb Ice, and it got curb stomped like you wouldn't fuckin' believe. Seriously, it was almost sad how badly we wrecked that things shit.

Hell, it was so extreme of an asswhooping I almost got mental whiplash when the Judgment link said hi again. That thing does not want to fucking leave me alone.

A few floors up after that, we surprisingly hit another barrier.

"Fuuka, what floor is this?" I asked.

"We're on the two-hundred fifty fourth floor." She reported. "…I can sense an area with no outer wall from here. That's probably what Ryoji-kun was talking about…"

"Must be the route to the roof." I commented. "Well, looks like we'll be comin' up here on the thirty-first, everybody."

"You think we'll be able to beat Nyx?" asked Junpei.

"Considering how strong everyone is…" Fuuka began. "I know we can succeed."

"Yeah." Shinjiro agreed. "Let's win this."

**CRASH**

Muh?

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Judgment Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Messiah, the ultimate form of the Judgment Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

…If 'Messiah' refers to who I think it does, then Personas have reached a new level of ridiculously awesomeness. Seriously.

"So…" Hamuko began. "What now?"

We all sort of looked at each other.

"That's a good question." admitted Akihiko. "We can't train that well on the Shadows up here."

I sighed. "Yeah, that's true." I looked over at the access point glowing a short ways away. "Why don't we just head back down to the lobby for now?"

There were mumbles of agreement as we all trudged over to the Access Point.

* * *

"How fucking long has that been there and how come we never noticed it before now?"

I slowly approached a set of massive, ornate white-orange doors that appeared to the right of the massive staircase in the lobby of Tartarus.

"I've never seen 'em before…" Junpei noted as he and the others approached as well. "The hell did they come from?"

"I don't know…" replied Fuuka. "But… I sense incredible power from the other side…"

I looked back at her. "Shadows?"

She nodded. "Powerful ones."

Hamuko swallowed. "How powerful?"

"About as strong as the Reaper!"

Akihiko's eyes practically shot out of their sockets. "Are you serious?"

Fuuka nodded again. "Absolutely." She lifted her gaze to the doors. "It's… frightening…"

I looked back at the doors for a moment, then frowned. "Hey, Reaper. Can I ask you something?"

**'What is it, human?'** I felt the presence of the Master of Tartarus as he appeared in the lobby. **'Ah, I see you have found the Heaven's Door.'**

I turned around to look at the Reaper curiously. "What is it?"

**'It is the path to the Monad Depths.'** He stated. **'Be wary should you choose to enter, the Shadows within are strong enough to give even myself pause.'**

I glanced back at the massive door for a moment. "Duely noted. That was all I was gonna ask, actually."

**'I see. Farewell, then.'** said the Reaper before he vanished.

Everybody just kinda looked at me weird.

"Oh come on, guys." I sighed. "Don't look at me like that…" I turned around to face the door again. "So hey, who wants to scope this place out with me?"

"Dude, are you nuts?" Junpei asked loudly.

"Moderately." I replied, pushing the door open and peering inside. Looks like an orange version of the Thebel block in here. "So who wants to come along? Not very deep, I mean. Just gonna see what we've got to deal with in here." I thought for a moment. "Actually… Me and Shinji should be the ones to go in… we'll just need to borrow stuff from the rest of you."

I turned around as I switched my Persona to Abaddon. "Junpei, I need to borrow your Storm Ring. Aigis, I need your Thunder Belt. Shinji's gonna need to borrow the ones from Hamuko and Yukari, as well as the weakness-covering stuff I gave Mitsuru, Akihiko, Ken, and Koromaru. Chidori's, too." I pulled the Black God's Rock out of a card in my pocket. "And this."

"What's this all for?" Hamuko asked as she pulled her Storm Ring off and handed it to Shinjiro.

"Simple." I said as I slipped on the belt Aigis handed me. "I have that Persona who's immune to all but two elements, and Shinjiro has the best physical endurance out of all of us as well as natural resistances to Physicals. The accessories are to make sure nothing elemental kills us before we're done looking around, and plus it means the only way we can be hurt is Almighty skills like Megido. Granted, Shinji's still gotta look out for Strike Physicals as well but I'll be bringing along some of those healing bead things we found to keep him from gettin' hurt to badly."

"A sound strategy…" Mitsuru noted as Shinjiro put the Blazing Flame pendant on. "Just be cautious."

"That's why I've got us goin' in mostly invincible." I said. "I'd have suggested going in with Chidori instead, but I don't have anything to nullify Strike damage." I looked over at Shinjiro. "You ready?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

The two of us slowly entered the Monad Depths, Shinji tightly gripping the powerful axe he'd found in Adamah while I had the Joker state active. I looked around right side of the first corner we came too.

_"See anything?"_ I asked over my shoulder.

"Nothin' yet." He replied. "The hall turns left a little ways past here. You?"

_"Dead end."_ I stated, backing towards him. _"Fuuka, any sign of Shadows yet?"_

_{No, not yet.} _She reported. _{But I do sense them.}_

_"Noted." _I said, starting down the other hallway with Shinjiro. _"Let us know if you see anything."_ Azren, you see about trying to keep tabs on stuff, too.

_'I'll do what I can.'_

We rounded the corner and continued further down the hallway before we started hearing something.

_{I'm sensing a group of Shadows approaching!}_ said Fuuka. _{Be careful, they're very powerful!}_

_"Thanks Fuuka." _I slowed my pace a little. I think I can see the glow of an access point way at the far end of the hall around a corner. _"Get ready, Shinji."_

"On it." He grunted in response as we advanced slowly. We came across a doorway and cautiously peered around it.

A group of about five Mother-type Empress Arcana Shadows, which basicly amount to some lazy chick with an empress mask and a huge fur coat sitting on a walking chair, were in a large room with a couple gold boxes behind them. The looks are kinda deceiving, these buggers pack some serious magic skills.

"Think we can take 'em?" Shinji whispered.

_"I got an idea." _I said back, quickly switching to Thanatos. _"I'm gonna try usin' a Darkness skill on 'em."_

I summoned the card as sneakily as possible, then crushed it to call forth the god of death to unleash a Die For Me to obliterate them, and thankfully it worked and they all got blown away. And I felt a huge surge of power, like way moreso then when I usually kill a Shadow.

_"Damn…" _I commented absently as I switched back to Abaddon and entered the room with Shinjiro. _"We could get seriously powerful training in here if we're careful…"_

"You sure?" he asked, opening one of the boxes.

_"Definitely."_ I responded, checking the other one. Found a nice set of boots in it. _"I got some shoes over here. What's in yours?"_

"Suit of armor." He reported, holding it up. "Looks like it might fit one of the girls."

I tossed him an inventory card. _"Put it in there and pass it on to Hamuko."_ I slipped the card I put the boots in into one of my own pockets. _"I'm gonna hang onto the boots I found."_

"Sure thing." He said. "Now let's get out of here before more Shadows show up."

I stood up. _"Yeah."_

The two of us turned and started down the hall only to hear something behind us. We whirled around to see that it was a group of Captain Trooper Shadows. Chariot Arcana ones, and the have a TANK with them. The Tank was a new variant I hadn't seen before, and one of the Captain Shadows looked like it had an additional bit on its helmet, which could mean it's an even HIGHER ranked variant.

_"RUN!"_ I shouted, spinning around and barreling down the hallway with Shinjiro as the Tank started firing. The walls got obliterated around us, making me thankful that damn tank has bad aim. Then the other Shadows started firing off their own attacks that mostly bounced off harmlessly, but I didn't want to try pushing my luck because I saw a Megidola bullet fly past my head.

Unfortunately, I was wrong about the access point being down the hallway, so we were left dashing madly through Monad with a bunch of Shadows chasing the two of us. To make matters worse, the amount of noise we were making started drawing more Shadows towards us.

"Any bright ideas?" Shinjiro asked as we ducked around another corner before a Megidolaon flew down the hall we just left and obliterated part of it.

_"I'm working on it!"_ I shouted back, spinning around mid step to summon Azren to blast the path behind me with his Wild Card skill. I faced forward and kept running as I heard a few Shadows scream in pain. _"Fuuka, did you find us an access point yet?"_

_{No, but Juno says she has a skill that can get you out of there!}_ She replied. _{You just need to stay still for a few moments!}_

_"I hope for our sake it works, Fuuka!"_ I said. _"These bastards are throwing around Megidolas like crazy!"_

_{It will, just find a safe place and stay there for a few moments!}_

_"Better idea!"_ I stated, skidding to a stop and pulling out a Fusion Spell Gem. It was black with a glowing white star in it. _"I've only got one of these things but it should blast most of these Shadows and startle the rest long enough for you to get us out!"_

"Roy, are you nuts?"

_"You should know the answer to that by now!"_ I replied, smashing the gem in my palm. The amount of energy building up in me from it was insane. Almost like the three-spell thing I did on the bridge back in November. _"HERE GOES!"_

I threw the energy out, unleashing the power of Armageddon. A large amount of Shadows were completely devastated by the attack, and I felt an incredible surge of power before the world turned to light and I was back in the lobby with Shinjiro and the others.

"Nice timing, Fuuka…" I sighed, turning off the Joker State before pulling off the Storm Ring on my finger and tossing it to Junpei before I moved to take off the belt Aigis let me use. "But yeah, I think we can definitely train in that place if we're careful. Especially Koromaru and Chidori, I think that first group of Shadows I killed were weak to Darkness. Dunno about any others."

"What was it like in there?" Aki asked as he took back his Frozen stone from Shinjiro.

"Kinda nostalgic, really." I admitted. "It really looks like an orange version of the Thebel block. The Shadows are utter monsters, though. They were blowing up the walls around us as we ran, and there was another version of those damn Troopers in there. They apparently out-rank the Captain types we found up in Adamah."

"Ah man, what!" Junpei whined, then he realized something. "Wait, you said there were Captain ones in there?"

I nodded. "Yeah, so at the very least you guys can probably kill those while working up towards the bigger ones." I made a confused face. "And I feel kinda weird… How many damn Shadows did I catch with that blast?"

"Most of them." Fuuka told me. "I counted at least twenty six less before I was able to get you out."

I raised an eyebrow. "Out of how many total?"

"Sixty."

I whistled. "Damn. No wonder. Must've gotten a huge boost from killing that many…" It was at that point a glowing orb appeared infront of me, then morphed into a small, but thick book. I grabbed it before it fell to the ground. "Oh hey, got the item from Abaddon." I looked at the title. "'Tome of the Void'. Huh. Wonder what it does…" I shrugged and stuffed the book into an Inventory card. "Ah well, find out next time. Let's go home for now. I'm tired from running so much…"

"Same here…" sighed Shinjiro. "Let's go…"

* * *

We all headed home for some sleep, and with perfect timing because the Dark Hour ended just as we got past the school gates. I was up a little early the next morning, and I found Koromaru pacing anxiously in the lounge.

"What's the matter, little buddy?" I asked him as I approached. "You wanna go for a walk?"

He looked at me and barked in affirmation.

"Alright, lemme go get my coat and I'll go out with you." I said, kneeling down and patting his head a couple times.

Koro barked excitedly as I stood and went back over to the stairs, and to my surprise almost literally bumped into Aigis.

"Good morning, Roy-san." She smiled.

"Mornin' Aigis." I greeted back. I almost moved around her, then I had an idea. "Say, Aigis…" I looked at her. "You wanna go for a walk with me and Koromaru?"

* * *

The three of us quietly walked together up to Naganaki Shrine. Once we were up the steps, Koromaru ran off to play around.

"I've come here a lot lately." Aigis commented as we sat down on a bench. "Before, I couldn't understand the benefits of coming to these places called 'shrines'. But lately, that has changed…" She looked over in the direction Koro ran off. "This is also where we met Koromaru-san last summer… He waited here until we found him, even though he knew his master had died…" She turned her head back towards me. "Now I can understand his reasons for doing that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? And what might that be?"

"What drives people isn't necessarily facts, but feelings…" stated Aigis. "He knew for a fact that his master had died, but his feelings of wanting to be with him made him stay…" Her lips curled into a small smile. "It's the same for me. "I have grasped the fact that I can't protect you, yet here I remain. Subconsciously, I was following my feelings rather than the available data. I was so confused at the time that I didn't notice it, but to tell the truth… it seem that…" She started blushing a little. "The reasons behind my behavior are changing while I am with you, Roy-san…"

**KRIK**

Buh?

**KRIK KRIK**

The hell is going on?

**KRIK KRIK CRASH**

What.

A card appeared in my field of vision. It had a gold border around a picture of a figure standing in an orange circle inside what looked kind of like the symbol for 'Omega'. The numerals for the Arcana were XX.

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

The Aeon Social Link… is with Aigis. The Spooky Voices want me to hang out with Aigis a lot.

_'Seems that way.'_

Best. Social Link. Ever.

"…Oh, I have a correction to make." began Aigis, pulling me from my thoughts. "I talked about 'what drives people'… but of course Koromaru-san and myself aren't 'people'."

"Yeah you are." I said. "You just fit a much more… loose definition."

She giggled. My god that is a cute laugh. "Thank you, Roy-san."

Our attention shifted to Koromaru, who barked twice as he approached us.

"You ready to go home?" I asked. He barked again. "Alright, let's go then."

* * *

Author Notes - Sorry if some bits seem a little weird, this chapter was just me trying to set the overal tone for January in AFNF. Also, for refrence Roy went from about level 69 to at least level 76 in that one trip to Monad. The rest of SEES is still at around 68, so Roy's going to be covering them while they slaughter their way through Monad. And yes, Roy is going to fight Elizabeth. I'm just not quite sure when at the moment. I'll have to get back to you peoples on that. Anyways, YAY AEON LINK! About god damn time I started that one. Also, I'm taking requests for shenanigans in Monad once Roy & SEES start reaching the max level! If you want to possibly see me write up something hilariously awesome, please say so in reviews! :D


	50. Aeon's Affection

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Lunatsu13** - Sadly, there is not as much in the way of Monad Shenanigans in this chapter as I would like, but that's because it's still kinda serious buisness because they've only just started trecking through the place. Chapter 51 will have more wacky hijinks, and if I am wrong you and everyone else who reviews this story has the right to throw a big rock at me. Just don't you all throw them at once please D:

**Despair's Cold Edge** - I've only scratched the surface of the Persona-powered insanity. The real chaos will come when the crew starts hitting Level 99. And yeah, the Persona games are hilariously fun to sum up like that. P3 has the Mock-Suicide Gang saving the world from the Emo Wife of Cthulhu's cousin Monty, and P4 has the Inaba Scoobies on the case going up against a god's pissed off ex-wife.

**TiFu** - Fuuka's Nuking capablities are going to get an upgrade soon. Why? Megidolaon Skill Card. 8D And if end of chapter 49 made you squee, this entire chapter is going to make you very happy.

**Overlord Duelist **- I have issues with that Persona, okay? I'm sorry, man. You should be glad I even mentioned him at all, actually. I probably won't ever again, not even in the P4 Story. :T

**Astrih Konnash** - I felt like having Fusion Accidents pop up at least once, and it's almost hilariously similar to one that happened to me, except the result of the accident was Loki instead of what Roy got.

**Abyss of Essance** - Actually, Yukari isn't as moody because Roy isn't actually around to see it. And the bit with Aigis on the walk with Koromaru just seemed like the most logical way to start the Aeon Link before school started back up for the SEES Crew. It's great how a lot of the Social Links lend themselves to tweaks like that in most of the scenes, sort of like how Chihiro's Link can pretty easily be combined with the Bookworm's couple's Link, which is basicly the whole reason they can work well like what I did with the Aeon Link right there.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - Oh, Devil May Cry stuff. I should totally have Roy do that next chapter, he DOES sound like Dante now after all. And speaking of 50 chapters, to celebrate, this chapter is freaking HUGE. Seriously, it's just about double the usual length of my chapters(which is around 6.5k words) at 11,956 words total(before the review answers and Author notes). It's easily the longest chapter of the story I've written!

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

We took Koromaru back to the dorm, then I headed down to the Antique shop to see if the lady there had done anything with that Persona I gave her. Turns out she did, and the result was quite possibly the most devastatingly powerful set of gauntlets I'd ever seen. They were more the kind Akihiko would use, so I stashed them away to give to him later. Out of curiosity in regards to the massive increase in strength I got on that trip to Monad, I headed into the Velvet Room for Fusion.

First new Persona was Kartikeya, a Star Arcana Persona with a bit of an Electrical focus. I didn't plan on keeping it, but I think I heard there's a famous weapon connected to it so I'm gonna try stuffing the thing into a Nihil Weapon and see what happens. The next Persona I made was Masakado of the Tower Arcana, and he absolutely does not fuck around. I got him out of a Four-Persona fusion of Zochoten, Komokuten, Jikokuten, and Bishamonten, which lead to Masakado ending up with Akasha Arts, Vorpal Blade, and Arms Master on top of Myriad Arrows, which he learned via the Tower Arcana Power Boost, and the Power Charge he already had, effectively letting me never have to need another Physical Attacker Persona ever again because of how awesome he is due to being able to unleash all forms of physical death. That Ultimate Tower Persona might be better, but I can't make him yet, and I think I might be able to get a badass weapon if I hand Masakado over for weapon fusion so I'll stuff him in after I get the thing from Kartikeya.

Another 'sona I made was Michael of the Judgment Arcana. Honestly, he sucks BUT he did spit out a skill card for a unique and insanely powerful Slash-type skill called Heaven's Blade before I got rid of him. I'm totally giving it to Masakado. I fused Yurlungur and Attis away and eventually managed to fuse their respective support skills onto one persona - Ananta of the Aeon Arcana. It's got great healing and Kaja support, plus Enduring Soul, though it's not quite as defensively powerful as Attis was. Still a decent 'sona. My lack of Ice skills was made up for by acquiring Skadi, an Empress Arcana persona who learned Niflheim, the ultimate ice skill.

Now seeing as how Kohryu is somewhat lacking in power, I fused him away and ended up recreating Loki, except he had Thunder Reign and Elec Amp. This was so I could pull out all other Fool Arcana Personae I had and do a six-Persona fusion to call upon Susano-O, the Ultimate Fool Arcana Persona. And he got Thunder Reign and Elec Amp, thus making the Japanese God of Storms seriously live up to his name. I kinda wonder if I can get that legendary sword of his if I stuff him in for Weapon Fusion.

I also asked Igor how I got that one Persona I refuse to name from that fusion accident when it's listed on one of the little chart things he gave me as a five persona fusion. He just shrugged and said, I kid you not, 'shit happens sometimes'. Considering I've never heard Igor swear before, I just accepted his explanation and pulled Thanatos, Norn, Uriel, and Abaddon back out of the compendium before I left the Velvet Room.

I checked with the Antique Shop lady regarding Weapon Fusion with the 'sonas I had on-hand. She said she could make some powerful weapons out of Kartikeya, Masakado, and Skadi, and that she actually managed to upgrade her Persona Nihil Weapon converter thingie to work with two 'sonas at once, so I handed over Kartikeya and Skadi for her to make weapons out of, went back to the Velvet Room to get Skadi and Kohryu(because he's awesome) back, then headed back to the dorm.

I passed Aki the Super Gauntlet thingies with skulls on them and he seemed stoked. I didn't mention how I got them, mainly because I don't want to scar him for life. And due to the difficulty of Monad training, I suggested skipping Tartarus that night so we could be absolutely sure we were in good shape for it. The next day was, as per the norm I've begun to expect, dull until the trip to Tartarus. I had everyone come in with me again, though Fuuka opted to stay in the lobby to warp us out of Monad if we got into any serious trouble.

First thing I found out, though, is those gloves I gave Akihiko seriously powered him up. Granted, the Monad Shadows are insanely powerful, but Aki was having the least trouble out of anyone when we started training in the place. Once Shadows started dropping, everybody strengthened pretty quickly. We actually got up to about the third floor of Monad before we couldn't carry on and had to get out of there before we got wiped out. Hell, it was so bad Mitsuru insisted we hold of on going to Tartarus for an entire week so everyone was okay. I was cool with that, as I managed to get a little stronger myself and it gave me time to get more weapons fused for everyone.

When I got up the next morning, everybody was still out cold. Even Aigis was worn down, so I just headed to the mall to pick up the weapons from the Antique Shop. The results were an immensely powerful naginata and rapier, referred to as the Vel Vel Muruga and Snow Queen Whip respectively. I handed over Masakado to her to see what'd happen, and then just on a bit of a whim had her fuse Ananta into a Nihil Gun, which is a kind of Nihil Weapon that seems to like it'd result in a compatible upgrade to Aigis' finger guns if used for fusion.

After doing that, I headed to the Velvet Room to pull Masakado and Ananta back out then try out more fusions. I hadn't gotten a lot stronger since the last time I was at it, mainly because I was more focused on letting everyone else catch up this last time around, but I could definitely create more powerful 'sonas. Working on an old hunch when I tried to fuse two Personae, Rangda and Barong, once I tried it again and got Shiva. While not a really spectacular persona, he did learn the ultimate Pierce-type Physical attack, Pralaya, from the Tower Arcana power boost he got. I had doubts about Shiva's usefulness as a Persona, so I fused him with some other 'sonas into Vishnu of the Sun Arcana. Lucky for me Vishnu inherited Pralaya, and while not spectacular on his own, apparently having him around along side Ananta lets me unleash a Fusion Spell called Infinity. I dunno what it does, but it's probably useful so I skill carded Spell Master onto him to make it less costly until I can possibly get ahold of some spell gems to do it for free.

Next 'sona I managed to make was Baal Zebub of the Moon Arcana, which once I pulled a few other Personas out of the compendium let me create the ultimate Devil Arcana Persona, Beelzebub in a Six Persona Fusion. He… wasn't exactly as awesome as I expected, but as I noticed, he's holding a weapon which might mean I can get it if I throw him in for weapon fusion.

Then I fused and obtained Satan. SATAN. I've got the biggest bad in the history of existence chilling in my brain now, and it's awesome. Interestingly he looks like a green tench coat made of armor with like, six arms and holding a really big sword and two large demonic wings, but whatever it's actually kind of epic. He's also apparently capable of learning the skill Black Viper, which is that crazy move that rainbow doom maya tried to obliterate us with like, six months ago. I cannot wait to get that, it's going to be AWESOME.

Once I restocked on other 'sonas I still wanted to keep around or still had use for, I headed back to the dorm and handed over the new weapons to Hamuko and Mitsuru, then just sorta hung around the dorm. The next day was kinda boring as well, but I got curious when I didn't see Aigis in the lounge around two in the afternoon, and looked around the dorm for her. I eventually found her on the roof.

"Hey." I said to her as I approached. She was just sorta staring out at the city near the edge of the rooftop. "You know, the view up here kinda sucks."

"I like the roof of the school better." she admitted. "I can the entire town from there." She looked at me. "It looks peaceful and calm, and although the ocean waters at Yakushima were clearer, I like the view there better."

I smiled. "I'll have to check that out once school starts back up."

Aigis smiled as well, casting her gaze out at the city again. "Before I came here, things such as liking or disliking the scenery never entered my mind…" She looked at me again. "What about you, Roy-san? Do you… like this town?"

"Yeah, I do." I replied. "Seattle has some nice places, and it's hard to beat the view from the Space Needle, but Iwatodai has more of a… homey feel to it, I suppose."

"I'm glad to hear that." Her smile widened. "Feeling the same way, as we view the same scenery…" She giggled. "It feels nice." Aigis frowned slightly, then cast her eyes downward. "Many feelings towards various things I had not recognized before are making themselves clear now… It's a little scary sometimes…" she fidgeted a little. "But if I can change by being with you…" She turned to face me and smiled again. "I want to hold onto this feeling."

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

Yeah, shaddup. I don't even care anymore.

"Is there a reason you came up here, Roy-san?" Aigis asked.

"I was looking for you, actually." I shrugged. "I hadn't seen you all day so I kinda wondered where you might've gone too."

"Oh, I see…" She looked a little sad. "I'm sorry to have worried you…"

"It's fine." I smiled.

"We should head back inside." she suggested. "It's quite cold outside, even for January." She her lips curled in a small, happy smile. "It would be awful if you caught a chill."

I laughed. "I like the cold. Spring and Summer are nice, yeah, but winter never bothers me. I do see your point, though. Let's head back in."

* * *

The two of us went back inside and opted to play some vidja gaemz to pass the time. The next day was the start of the third semester, and pretty much the entire school was talking something about this cult that's been throwing posters up all over town. I personally didn't care one way or the other about that crap, but the fact it's turning up everywhere has me a little on edge. First thing after class, though, Junpei stopped me.

"Hey, you busy?" he asked. "Could you come with me for a sec?"

"Sure." I replied. "Somethin' buggin' ya?"

Junpei frowned slightly. "Kinda." He jerked his head towards the door. "Let's go to the rooftop."

* * *

"We haven't really had a chance to talk for a while, have we?" Junpei asked once we got up to the roof. "It's almost Coming of Age Day, ya know. I used to just think of it as a day off…" He gazed out at the city from our spot near the edge of the roof. "But now, I wonder if I'm even gonna live long enough to celebrate it…"

"You're worryin' too much, dude." I told him. "But I get where you're comin' from."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He frowned. "It's been pretty weird around here lately… People have been passing out, others have gone missing…" Junpei shook his head. "Dude, it's crazy." He looked at me. "Senpai said it's because there are too many Shadow victims and the memory revision can't keep up." He sighed. "It's all gotta be because of this Nyx."

"Yeah, probably." I agreed. "Shit's going crazy."

Junpei nodded with a hum of agreement before his eyes lit up a little in remembrance. "Oh, and have you heard about that doomsday cult? They've been running around town telling everyone they see that the end of the world is coming. Man, we need to do something, and quick."

"Definitely." I agreed. "But we can't, because Nyx isn't gonna drop by till the end of the month."

"It's not just Nyx, ya know." He corrected. "Strega's still out there. They haven't done anything yet, but I know they've gotta be planning something." He scowled. "And we need to take care of them, too."

"That's a good point." I mused, rubbing my chin. "Those two dropped off the map after you and Chidori set Jin on fire and the Reaper almost beat the shit out of them."

"Heh, yeah…" agreed Junpei, then he chuckled. "You know, last spring, I never would've imagined I'd become such good friends with anyone I'd trust them with my life…" He smirked. "But then again, I never thought it would come to this." He turned his head slightly to look at me. "Ya know, I don't think it's completely hit me yet… it's just all so hard to believe, but that doesn't mean we should just sit around and wait for it to happen."

"Damn straight." I replied, fist bumping with him.

"You're pretty cool, man." He commented. "That thing was in you for ten years, and you harnessed its power and made it your own…" He smiled. "I'm glad I met you, Roy. It's embarrassing to say it, but… that's really how I feel. We'll always be friends, right? I mean, even after this is all over?"

"Best friends till the end of time, Junpei." I grinned.

He bobbed his head. "Cool."

A random thought hit me. "You know, I just realized something…"

Junpei gave me a curious look. "What?"

"Ryoji got shoved into my head ten years ago." I began. "And Azren said that it was the emotional trauma of my parents dieing that caused Orpheus to appear." I looked at Junpei. "But what if it was having Death sealed in me that caused it? I don't think having something as powerful as that thing crammed into a human being, especially not an emotionally unstable six year old, wouldn't have side effects."

Junpei just shrugged. "I guess, but I dunno as much about Personas as you do. Only thing I might have over you is this sorta mind link thing me 'n Chidori have goin'…"

Eyebrow. "Since when?"

"Uh, the day after that night at Tartarus where you almost took a bullet for me."

"Huh." I blinked in surprise. "Must be connected to why you got her Spring of Life thing as well. So how much of a link is it?"

"We can basicly talk to each other in our heads." He replied. "Sorta like what Fuuka does with Juno."

"Makes sense." I shrugged. "Chidori's Persona has some scanning abilities as well, and she did kinda hijack Fuuka's link that night."

"Yeah…" He bobbed his head, then he seemed to think of something. "Hey, you said you get new Personas by fusin' your old ones together, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, if getting Death sealed in you broke off Orpheus from Azren, shouldn't you be able to fuse 'em back together?"

I stared at Junpei blankly for a second. "Now why didn't I ever think of that?"

_"I dunno." _Azren commented. _"Wanna go try?"_

I shrugged. "Don't see a reason not to, I gotta head to the mall to pick up some stuff anyways." I looked at Junpei. "You wanna come? There's probably a badass katana waitin' for me to come pick it up."

"Seriously?" He grinned like a madman. I nodded. "Hell yeah!"

* * *

So Junpei 'n me headed to the mall and picked up the epic Masakado Katana and the gun upgrade for Aigis called the Ananta Shesha. That one for Aigis sounds awesome, and certainly looks the part. I handed over Shiva and Beelzebub for Weapon Fusion, then left the Antique Shop with Junpei to stop by the Velvet Room.

"Hey, Igor, I got a question for you." I said as I walked in.

"You do?" he asked, sounding curious as I sat down. "And what might that be?"

"Orpheus was splintered off from Azren about ten years back." I stated. "By that logic, would it be possible for me to fuse the two of them together?"

"No."

Eyebrow. "What do you mean no?"

"Orpheus may be a broken shard of your soul…" Igor began. "But due to being separate from the rest of your Shadow for so long, it has atrophied and become too weak to be rejoined with him at this stage."

_"So… what?"_ Azren asked. _"We just gotta pull Orpheus back of the compendium and use him a lot until he's strong enough again?"_

"I'm afraid it will take something far more drastic then simple training to restrengthen the broken piece of your heart." relented Igor. "Though, I am certain you will be able to soon enough."

I let out a sigh and stood up. "Well, thanks anyways Igor…"

* * *

Junpei shared my disappointment at the inability to recombine Azren with Orpheus, though he was still stoked about getting to try out his new katana sometime soon. We headed back to the dorm and I passed along the Shesha to Aigis before I went to bed that night. Next day was nothing spectacular, but I opted to walk home with Aigis. Everything was all well and good till we got to Iwatodai Station when a bunch of dogs suddenly came up to us. They did not look very happy, not even the little yappy dog that was with 'em.

"You're the ones that I often see at the shrine…" Aigis noted.

One of the dogs barked angrily.

"Huh… Koromaru-san?" She seemed shocked. "We did that?"

A different, larger dog barked a few times.

"Wait!" Aigis panicked. "We aren't mistreating Koromaru-san!" She frowned. "It's true that he's helping us in our battle… However-!"

The yappy dog piped up, causing Aigis to appear even more distressed.

"No…" She shook her head, then looked at me. "Oh, right. Um, these dogs are Koromaru-san's old friends. They doubt our intentions regarding Koromaru-san, since he has been more frequently injured lately." Her expression changed to a more worried one. "How can we make them understand…?"

"Easy." I said before I looked at the dogs. "You three got it all wrong. We're not-"

The dogs all started barking angrily.

"I don't think they want to listen…" Aigis commented, moving a step closer to me.

The brown dog started growling when she moved.

"Please don't be angry…" She said quietly, crouching slightly. "Calm down."

The dog reacted by biting her when she held out her hand. It quickly let go and whimpered in confusion.

"Oh…" she blinked. "I'm so sorry. My hand is hard…"

The dog whined again, then scurried away with the other two following right behind it.

"I see…" said Aigis sadly as she stood back up. "No wonder they doubt me. They are confused, since my body is not natural…" she looked in the direction the dogs ran away in. "I hope that dog isn't hurt…"

I frowned slightly as she fell quiet.

"I…" she began, turning back to face me. "Have been thinking, lately."

"What about?"

"Although my heart may become more human, my body will forever be mechanical." She stated. "Of course, that's how I was designed. But…" Aigis lowered her head with a small frown. "I'm not strong enough to be a weapon, and I'm too rigid to pass as a human… I'm neither fish nor fowl… not completely machine nor human…"

"That's not true." I said firmly.

"But…!"

"It's not true." I repeated, pulling her into a quick hug. "Don't think stuff like that, Aigis."

She was still for a moment, then hugged me back. "I'm sorry, Roy-san…" She squeezed me tightly. "Thank you very much. You're right…" She pulled away to look at me with a somewhat sad smile. "Even if I can't quite explain it, I have to be true to myself… and I'm sorry for saying such things…" Her expression brightened a little. "If I hadn't been created, I would never have met everyone… and that includes you." Aigis' smile widened. "If I can stay by your side, then nothing should faze me…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

Aigis looked around quickly. "I should make sure that the dogs understand our situation. It would be bad if you were placed in danger again."

"If you're gonna go talk to them, head back to the dorm first and get Koromaru to come with you." I suggested. "They'll probably listen to him."

She thought for a moment, then nodded. "You are likely correct. I will be sure to do so."

I smiled. "Let's head back then."

* * *

So we went back to the dorm, then Aigis headed off with Koromaru to square things away with his pals. They got back a while later and apparently everything was cool again, so I wouldn't have to worry about any dogs trying to maul me next time I head to that one corner store about three blocks away.

The next morning, I headed to the mall with Aigis, partly because she wanted to come and she was the only person around, to pick up the latest Weapon Fusion results from the Antique Shop. The results in question were the Pinaka spear, made from Shiva, and the Corpse Rod, made from Beelzebub. Considering how heavy that second one is, Shinjiro would likely get the most use out of it. I mean seriously, it's basicly a huge freaking skull mace. Curiously, the Antique Lady speculated there was an epic weapon to be made from Kohryu, so I handed him over to her before I left.

As me 'n Aigis started out, an old lady came up to us.

"Excuse me…" She began. "Could I trouble you for a moment? Have you seen a kitty cat around here? She's a precious little white, spotted cat named Mewlie." The old lady seemed dejected. "She slipped away when I wasn't looking. I'm so worried about where she could have gone, but she's almost as old as I am, so I doubt she could have gotten very far…"

"A white, spotted cat…" Aigis repeated, then she looked at me. "Did you see one, Roy-san?"

"Not recently." I admitted. "Sorry, ma'am."

"I see…" The old lady's expression fell. "I'm in a tizzy… I hope my little Mewlie is eating alright…" She smiled at us. "Thank you for your help. I'll try looking elsewhere."

The lady walked away and I looked at Aigis.

"A white, spotted cat named Mewlie…" She murmured, then she looked up at me. "If you don't mind, Roy-san… could we help her look? It seems the old lady will suffer greatly if they remain separated for much longer…"

"I don't mind." I replied.

"Yes!" Aigis beamed before she pondered seriously. "Hmmm, what's the phrase usually used in situations like these…? 'What goes around, comes around to hit you in the back of the head'…!" Her eyes lit up again. "That's it!"

I chucked a little at Aigis' enthusiasm. She's like a little kid. Only taller. And capable of punching holes in monsters that look like tanks with her bare hands.

"She could be so hungry by now that 'her stomach and spine are only a minute away'." Aigis continued, then she seemed to pause to think again. "Or is that 'an instant away'…?"

"You can wonder about that later." I told her. "We should probably hurry."

Aigis smiled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

The two of us scoured most of the places we could think of. Port Island Station, Iwatodai Station, even Naganaki Shrine, but we weren't having much luck.

"There's no trace of her…" Aigis commented sadly as we sat down on a bench at the shrine. "I can sense hostile reactions, such as Shadows, but this…" She trembled slightly. "I'm-"

"Don't. Say it." I said quickly. "You're not useless."

"But… I was the one who began this search…" She noted sadly, sounding on the verge of tears. "It's not working out after all… how could a machine like myself have feelings like-"

Her rant stopped short when I suddenly hugged her.

"Stop being so hard on yourself, Aigis." I murmured. "You haven't messed anything up. You just didn't find Mewlie today is all. We can keep looking for her if you want."

"Thank you, Roy-san…" She replied quietly, wrapping her arms around me. "It makes me happy you wish to take the time to indulge me in this…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

"Um…" She began, slowly pushing herself away. "I'll be going back alone… I need some time to think…"

"No problem." I smiled. "See you at the dorm."

* * *

I let Aigis leave the shrine first, then went back to the dorm myself a little while later. Nothing happened that night, or the next day, which was a day off due to being Coming of Age Day. After school the day after that, Aigis and I headed down to the Antique shop to pick up the last Weapon Fusion before we headed back to Tartarus again that night. The result of stuffing Kohryu into a Nihil Weapon? A badass set of gold-colored clawed gauntlets that looked almost like you took 'em off Kohryu itself. I totally kept those for myself, then cashed in a few extra gems I had for additional supplied before we left.

At Port Island Station, however, Aigis stopped suddenly.

"Something wrong?"

She just sorta looked off towards the back alley. "Was that a cat's voice…?" Her eyes lit up. "Could it be…?"

Aigis quickly darted over to the entrance of the alleyway, with me following a step behind. Once I caught up to her, I saw her staring at a white cat with black spots.

I think we just found that old lady's cat.

_'So do I.'_

Aigis obviously thought so as well, and moved towards the cat.

"Are you…" She began. "Mewlie-san?"

The cat looked at Aigis curiously and meowed.

Aigis' face lit up. "So you are Mewlie-san! I'm so glad…!" She looked at me. "Roy-san, let's go tell the old lady about this!"

"Yeah." I agreed, then I kneeled down. "C'mon Mewlie-san. We're gonna take you back to your owner, okay?"

* * *

I carefully picked up the cat and carried it all the way back to Paulownia Mall, where the old lady was waiting.

"Excuse me, ma'am…" I began as we approached her. "Is this your cat?"

The old lady looked at us. "Is that…" Her eyes lit up. "It is…!" I set Mewlie down on the bench next to her. "Awww, there, there…" She stroked the cat's head a few times. "You seem a little skinnier than you used to be…" She looked back at us as Mewlie purred contently, and very loudly. "This little one is all I have left to keep me company… I was so lonely when Mewlie was missing… I don't know how I can thank the both of you."

"No thanks necessary." I replied holding up one hand. "I'm just happy to have helped."

"'Lonely'…" Aigis said quietly, then she raised her head to look at the old lady. "Is being by oneself… 'lonely'?"

"Oh yes, dear…" nodded the woman sagely. "When you get to be my age, you find that all the wealth in the world won't take care of you. Living alone is a dreadful thing." She smiled. "Some of my neighbors have delightful children, but…" She gave a weary chuckle. "They aren't interested in old ladies like me."

Aigis looked down again and murmured something.

"Well, Mewlie, do you miss your basket and blankie?" cooed the old lady, petting the cat in question a few more times. "Want to go home now?"

Mewlie meowed in response, then the old lady picked her up and stood up.

"Thank you so much, you two." She said with a small bow, then left with her cat.

I turned towards Aigis, who was still looking down.

"It seems that 'living' is something that can't be done alone…" She began suddenly, turning towards me as well.

I bobbed my head a little. "You may be right."

"Yes." Aigis nodded sharply. "It's important to keep someone in your thoughts, and to know that you are in theirs… To be able to contact them anytime…" Her expression started to fall. "And… to touch them…" She looked up at me again. "But I do understand one thing." She smiled shyly. "I feel happy when I'm together with you, Roy-san…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

"However, I am still curious…" She continued, her smile changing to a sort of ponderous expression. "If to live means to be able to connect with other people… How close to that goal can I come with a body like mine…?" She shook her head quickly, then smiled again. "…Just kidding." She seemed to think about something, but kept smiling. "I have been exceedingly timid lately. Is there something wrong with me, I wonder?" She shook her head again. "…We should start heading back."

"Yeah, we should." I agreed.

* * *

We headed to the station, but because we got side-tracked helping the old lady out, we missed our train and had to wait about a half hour before the next one showed up. Once we got off and were leaving the station, we had a bit of a surprise.

"That old lady…" Aigis pointed out. "She is Mewlie-san's owner…"

I looked over and whaddya know, it is that old lady. Must've gotten on the train we missed and taken Mewlie home, then gone out to get something for her. She seems to be talking to a Gekkoukan Student, though. "You're right. But who's she talking to?"

"Yo, Granny, I gots a date tomorrow." Said the student. "But uh, I don't have any money or anything, you know?"

"Oh my, is that so?" asked Mewlie's Owner. "You poor dear. You're such a good boy, Kiyoshi… This advance on your allowance will be just between you and me."

"C'mon, quit it!" He groaned. "I told you not to call me Kiyoshi!"

"But it's such a beautiful name!" She protested. "Your grandma picked it out, you know."

She mentioned something about a village, but I was kinda hung up on where I heard Kiyoshi's name before. I know I have.

_'I think he's on the Tennis Team or in Art Club. Not entirely sure…'_

"Yeah, yeah." He griped loudly, drawing my attention back to him as he started off. "Seeya."

The old lady smiled and waved at him as he walked away. "Be careful, dear, and visit again soon!"

"This 'Kiyoshi-san'…" Aigis began, causing me to look at her. "I wish to speak with him further."

She started off after him and I just kinda shrugged and followed her.

"Kiyoshi-san, please wait." She called out just as he was about to go up the steps to the station.

"Geez!" He complained loudly, stopping and turning around. "Don't friggin' call me that-" He stopped when he saw who was talking to him. "H-Huh? A-Aigis-senpai?"

Oh, now I recognize this guy! It's that dude everyone on the Tennis Team calls Joe for some bizarre reason.

Aigis did her head tilt. "Do you know me?"

"Well, doy…" Kiyoshi replied with a tone that suggested it was insanely obvious. "You're famous! I-I'm Kiyoshi Sakuma… a frosh. Everyone calls me Joe, so if you could just-"

"I would like to ask you something, Kiyoshi-san." She said, cutting him off. "Is that alright?"

He raised an eyebrow curiously. "Uh, sure…"

I wonder how he hasn't noticed me standing here. I'm only Six feet tall and have bright red hair visible from space.

_'Eh, I'd say the next town over, tops. Space is kinda pushing it.'_

Yeah, probably.

"Kiyoshi-san…" Aigis began. "Do you feel lonely when you are by yourself?"

"Huh? What…?" He seemed perplexed.

"Your grandmother said she is lonely, because she has nobody else."

Kiyoshi seemed a little annoyed all of a sudden. "What is this, a lecture?"

Aigis shook her head. "No. I… simply wish to know." She frowned. "Why don't you visit your grandmother more often? Her loneliness… if you are her relative, you may have the power to alleviate it."

"Nah, I'm just her grandson…" He replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But I know a lecture when I hear it!" He scowled. "Say outta stuff that doesn't concern you, okay?"

Aigis just seemed to ignore what he said and kept talking. "Kiyoshi-san, have you ever considered what it means to live?"

Kiyoshi skeptically raised an eyebrow. "To live…?"

"Personally, I think the bonds between people are what's most important." She stated. "That is what your grandmother is slowly losing."

He just sorta looked at her like she was crazy. "'To live'…? Are you kidding? No one seriously talks like that. What more do you need outta life than to have a blast?"

Aigis looked at him curiously. "'Having a blast'…"

"I mean, you're happy when you're having fun, right?" He asked, rubbing his neck again. "So hell yeah! We're alive to be happy!"

"To be happy…" she repeated with a small nod.

"So, whaddaya say, Aigis-senpai?" Kiyoshi began with a faint blush. "If you got time, why don't we-"

"Thank you, Kiyoshi-san." She cut him off., then turned towards me. "Let's go, Roy-san."

"Huh? What's up with that!" He exclaimed. "So, you were just trying to make a fool outta me, huh?" I looked over at him and he looked moderately pissed. "Then screw you!"

He turned and started up the steps, then ran off. Now I know why I didn't remember that guy. He's a wuss.

"…I can't understand Kiyoshi-san's feelings…" Aigis said, then she hung her head slightly. "And worse yet, I have angered him…" She looked back up at me, clearly distressed. "Did I do something wrong?"

"He saw me as a boyfriend, Aigis." I explained to her.

"Boyfriend…" She murmured. "That is a term commonly used for one which someone likes, correct?" She tilted her head. "Is… something wrong with that? After all, you are a boy, and my friend… Are you a boyfriend…?"

I think my heart just skipped a beat.

"P-Perhaps…" Aigis stammered, possibly realizing what she said and blushing slightly. "That was not quite properly phrased…" She quickly turned around so I couldn't see her face. "I…" She hesitated slightly. "Ever since I decided to live… I've been using words like 'why' and 'how' more frequently. The more time I spend with you, the more things I discover that I cannot understand…" She tilted her head downwards. "But the reason why I am not alive… It remains a stumbling block." She lifted her head back up again. "Is this… 'frustration'…?"

"But at the same time…" She turned around and smiled at me. "I feel fortunate. Although I'm not human, I enjoy a few privileges others do not…" Her smile widened. "After all, I am able to be near you, the one most precious to me… It's strange how two conflicting feelings can coexist…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

Oh god my chest is tight and I think my face is heating up oh god

"To be honest…" Aigis looked away from me sadly. "My feelings toward Kiyoshi-san are… unusually harsh. Kiyoshi has warm, soft hands he can use to feel those most precious to him… and yet he…" She shook her head. "What is this ugly feeling…? I wonder… is this jealousy…?" She shook her head again, only more harshly. "Let's stop this… it isn't right." She nodded. "Yes. I'll stop right here." She smiled again. "Shall we go home then?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We're heading to Tartarus tonight."

* * *

Once we got back to the Dorm, Junpei was standing near the door.

"Oh, there you guys are." He said, turning towards us. "We're all going to Hagakure. Wanna come?"

"Sure." I replied. "What's the occasion?"

"You remember that bet we made in Yakushima?" He asked.

Eyebrow. "What bet? I don't think I was in on it…"

"I don't think you were paying attention, but when I asked if you wanted in you nodded." He told me. "But, even if you weren't in on it, Akihiko-san still lost." He grinned. "Took me six months to get him to admit it, so now he's treating us all to ramen."

"Cool." I bobbed my head. "Let's get goin' then."

* * *

So Me, Aigis, Junpei, Shinji, Hamuko, Chidori, Aki, and Yukari all headed over to Hagakure with Akihiko grumbling to himself basicly the entire time we got there.

"Is the special okay for everyone?" Yukari asked as we all found places to sit. We're kinda lucky it was mostly empty, cos this is a small restaurant.

"Sounds good to me." I replied.

"Okay." She nodded, then turned towards the cook. "Eight specials, please!"

The cook nodded at her, then started fixin' up our meals.

"Man, this is awesome!" Junpei grinned. "Akihiko-san's NEVER treated us all to ramen before."

"Hey, why do I have to treat everyone?" He griped.

"Tch, not this again…" sighed Junpei.

"A bet's a bet, Aki." Shinji smirked. "Ya gotta pay up."

"Alright, alright!" He slumped over in his seat slightly. "I never said I wouldn't…"

I looked at Aigis, who was sitting next to me and saw she was reading a magazine.

"This article looks quite disturbing…" She began, causing everyone to sort of crowd around her. "'Emergence of a Messiah: The Charismatic One Speaks'".

"It must be about that doomsday cult." observed Yukari. "They're all over the Internet, too."

Aigis flipped the page, and I felt my blood boil when I saw what was on it.

"Wh-What the…?" stammered Aki.

"There's a picture of their leader…" noted Aigis.

"Takaya…" snarled both Chidori and Hamuko. I can't even tell if they're making the room hotter or colder, because they're probably canceling each other out in that respect. I'm not sure if that's more frightening then it going one way or the other.

"…I thought something was up." growled Akihiko. "So, Strega's behind that cult…" He scowled. "Tch, I've lost my appetite."

"Listen to what he says." Aigis continued. "'Mankind is currently imprisoned by the sins of hate and anger. But soon, a savior will descend upon this world to break the chains that bind us, and lift us to new heights. This great being is Nyx. I have beheld her glory, and she has blessed me with power beyond belief. In Nyx there is no pain… no suffering…'"

"How the fuck does he even know about Nyx?" I asked.

"Wait, he's saying that Nyx will save the world?" Yukari pointed out. "That's not true!"

"I don't think he really means what he's saying." stated Aki. "This is all just a game to him."

"It is." Chidori said venomously. "And I knew he had some skill in speaking, but this is beyond what I thought him possible of…"

"'But, there are those who do not understand this truth, even though they have also been blessed by her.'" Aigis read. "'They have acquired the same power as I; yet they abuse it, using it for their own personal gain. These miscreants are the ones to blame for the recent tragedies that have been plaguing our streets.'"

"I-Is he talking about us?" Hamuko panicked.

"No so loud!" hissed Shinjiro. "We don't want any nearby cultists trying to jump us."

"Sorry…" she apologized sheepishly.

"Hey, what's up with them calling him the 'charismatic one'?" asked Junpei. "How'd he get so popular all of a sudden?"

"Jin's managed to get rather well-known on the Internet." explained Chidori. "He most likely set up everything for Takaya to use his own abilities to convert people to their cause."

"Ugh, those two make me sick…" Yukari spat.

"'Brothers and sister, I shall go forth to make preparations for Nyx's arrival…'" Aigis was still reading from the article. "'But, do not fear those evildoers who desecrate their gifts. Nyx shall right their wrongs. May your hearts be filled with peace as you await your salvation. Blessed are those who take joy in the coming of Nyx. The revolution is here!'"

"'Revolution'?" I asked, deadpan. "Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah, people can't seriously be buying this crap, can they?" agreed Junpei.

"Throughout history, those who have changed the future have often been highly charismatic…" Aigis noted, then she closed the magazine. "That's the end of the article. It appears that after the interview, Jin and Takaya disappeared again."

"Well, there's only one place they could've gone." said Akihiko. "Tartarus."

"Not likely." I countered. "The Reaper would kill them on the spot if they tried."

"He's got a point there." Hamuko agreed. "But, why would people believe what Takaya is saying?"

"His words have change the mood of the entire city." noted Aigis gravely. "Even though they won't admit it, they are all afraid…"

Akihiko sighed. "I guess people just need something to believe in."

"Well, no wonder there's a sense of doom in the air…" Junpei commented. "We're all gonna die."

"But, is that so surprising?" asked Aigis. "The fact that all life ends one day has nothing to do with Nyx. Death is a natural occurrence in the cycle of life. Don't all humans realize this?"

Yukari fidgeted. "I guess…"

"To tell you the truth, I never would've even thought about my own death if none of this happened." admitted Junpei. "But since we've made up our minds, why don't we just leave it at that? Our objective is Nyx. If Strega gets in our way, we'll just tear 'em apart and move on."

"Damn straight." I agreed as our food was delivered. Yesss.

"I agree." added Akihiko. "We'll probably run into them at Tartarus anyways. However you look at it, we're the obstacle standing in their way."

"Well, we'll burn those bridges when we come to them." I said as I started eating. "We're headin' to Tartarus tonight so let's chow down 'n go kick some ass."

* * *

Once we'd all sufficiently stuffed ourselves and drained most of Akihiko's wallet, we went back to the dorm to get Mitsuru, Fuuka, and Koromaru and headed out to Tartarus. Like the last trip to Monad, Fuuka stayed in the lobby while the rest of us went in to kill stuff. With most of us packing new weapons that powered us up a hell of a lot, we tore through Monad faster then we expected, even with the Commander Shadows ordering around Captains to try and screw us over, but then again we kinda went stair hunting on purpose. We actually managed to reach the top, or bottom I suppose, of Monad.

I whistled as we looked around the lone platform that made up the final floor of the depths. "Damn. Smaller then I expected…"

"Hey, what's in that case?" Hamuko asked, pointing at a familiar steel briefcase just sorta sitting there.

Akihiko was closest and walked over to it. He knelt down, then flipped it open and his jaw dropped.

"There's gotta be a million yen in here!" He exclaimed.

"Well hey, Aki." I grinned. "It's all yours. I mean you blew most of your cash at Hagakure, right?"

He just smirked and closed the case, then stood up. "Thanks, Roy."

"No prob." I yawned. "But damn… those Commanders were seriously a pain tonight…"

"Yeah…" Shinji agreed, resting the Corpse Rod on his shoulder. "You wanna call it a night?"

I shrugged. "I guess. We still got like what, three weeks till Nyx shows up? I'd say we can afford to slack off a little." I stretched my arms over my head for a second. "We can come back a few days from now for more training and stuff."

"I like that idea…." sighed Junpei tiredly. "I'm beat…"

* * *

So we headed out of Tartarus and went back to the dorm for more rest, aiming to do a more comprehensive, and likely hilariously wacky, training session later this week. After school the next day, Aigis wanted to hang out at the mall for a little while so I went with her. When we got there, we found Mewlie's owner sitting on a bench near the fountain again.

"Ah…" Aigis began when she spotted the old woman. "You're Kiyoshi-san's grandmother, correct?" She smiled. "Greetings."

"Oh, you're those nice students from before." The old lady beamed. "Hello! You have great timing… I was just thinking about seeing you two again."

I joined Aigis in a slight head tilt of confusion.

"If you want the truth…" She began sadly. "Mewlie has disappeared again."

"Again?" asked Aigis, sounding a bit distressed. "Well, don't worry. At least this time, we have an idea of where she may have gone."

Mewlie's owner shook her head. "No… that's all right. I believe that this time… Mewlie went in search of something."

Aigis seemed confused. "In search of something…?"

"Yes, for a place to die." stated the old woman. "When cats perceive that their life is nearly over… they leave on their own to wait for the end." She smiled sadly. "Mewlie even came to say goodbye to me before she left. And so… I don't think I'll need you to find her anymore. I just wanted to thank you for letting us see each other one last time before the end."

"Mewlie-san…" began Aigis quietly. "Died…?"

"Well, toodle-oo." said the old lady as she got up and started to leave.

"Um…!" Aigis quickly turned towards the woman. "You're, um…" She hesitated for a second. "You're not alone! I'm certain of it!"

The old lady seemed perplexed for a moment, then smiled again. "Well, of course I'm not alone… as long as there are people left in the world, no one can truly be alone. I'm fine as long as there are people like you around!"

Aigis blinked. "Miss…"

"Bless you, dear girl, for your kindness to an old lady." replied the woman, bowing slightly. "…Toodle-oo."

The lady left, and Aigis stood there for a moment, then she turned to me.

"Kiyoshi-san said that people live to be happy…" she said. "Was Mewlie-san happy…?"

"I'm sure she was." I replied, smiling a little.

"Was Mewlie-san… grateful to have been born…?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure of that as well. What's with all the questions, Aigis? Are you okay?"

She ignored me and kept talking. "For what purpose… was Mewlie-san born…?"

I shrugged. "Nobody can say, really." I frowned. "Now c'mon, tell me what's bothering you…"

"Life…" She murmured, still mostly absorbed in her thoughts. "Where does it originate? Where does it go…? What reason does life have to exist?" She shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind. "To live is to be connected to people, but life eventually ends… Parting seems to be a natural and inevitable aspect of life… An unavoidable end…" She frowned. "Life… is cruel…"

"Aigis…?"

"I wonder…" She began, looking downward sadly. "Will the day come when I must part with you forever, too…?" She held her hands over her chest. "I do want to live, but that's not all…! That is to say… I don't want to merely become close to human, I want to… with you…!" She shut her eyes tightly. "What… what is this feeling?" She opened her eyes and looked at me. "What… do I want to do…?"

"Aigis…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

"Aigis, are you okay?" I moved closer and put my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry for getting upset so suddenly…" She apologized, not looking me in the eyes. "…I'll be heading back."

Aigis pulled herself away and quickly hurried off before I could stop her. I felt a pain in my chest, then I sighed. I don't even know why we came here in the first place.

_'Partly because Aigis wanted to come here and partly because you wanted to do more fusion in the Velvet Room.'_

…Bleh. It can wait till tomorrow. I'm going back to the dorm…

* * *

So I headed home and just sorta kept to myself that night. After school the next day, I almost headed out alone when Aigis wanted to spend time with me again. Seeing as how I really can't say no to her, I went up to the school roof with her.

"The wind is calm today…" She noted as we stood near the edge of the roof and looked out at the city. "I don't detect the usual scent of the sea."

"Yeah…" I agreed. "And you were right. The view up here is really nice."

Aigis was silent for a few moments before she spoke up. "I'm sorry about last time… Perhaps my heart is becoming more and more like that of a human… but as a result… I have realized something."

I looked at her. "What might that be?"

"The heart and body are inseparable…" she told me. "A human heart can only function normally within a human body…" She fidgeted nervously. "Um… have you ever come here alone with a female on any occasion before, Roy-san…? Perhaps you gazed out at the view and spoke quietly…" her head suddenly whirled around to look at me. "Oh, I didn't mean to pry." Her expression fell somewhat. "I was just curious…"

I smirked and scooted a little closer to her. "I am right now."

"Huh…?" Her eyes widened and she seemed to blush. "Um…" She looked away. "I'm only shaped like a female, and besides…"

I didn't hear the last bit she said because she mumbled it and started fidgeting again.

"Actually… I was becoming a little worried." She began again. "At school, I am seen as a human female… I was concerned that if I stayed with Roy-san too much, it could cause a misunderstanding…" She looked up at me. "If that is the case, please tell me right away!" She smiled sadly. I think she's trying to convince herself she really believes all this. "I wouldn't want to act as a barrier to you becoming close to female humans…"

"You're not in the way of anything, Aigis." I told her with a small smile.

She looked away quickly, staring out at the city again.

"The view from this rooftop is wonderful…" She said. "That must be why when I come here after school… I sometimes find a couple alone here. They might be leaning against one another, or embracing… I never gave it a second thought before but lately…" Her tone became saddened. "It pains me to see them…" She lowered her head. "I have probably come to realize this is a sort of connection I can never attain…"

"Aigis…" I began, trying to move closer when she took a step back and face me, throwing her arms out slightly.

"The closer my heart becomes to that of a human, the more I realize how much sets us apart…!" She exclaimed. "Just because my heart is developing doesn't mean I can actually become human…" She sort of hugged herself and looked down, avoiding my gaze. "I have known this from the beginning, of course. But…" She raised her head slightly, but not enough to look at me. "Only recently have I realized something. I have another wish, one just as precious as my desire to live…" She shut her eyes. "My realization is that this second wish can never be granted…"

Aigis shook her head quickly, then backed away from me further. "I'm sorry… I lost control of myself again…" She turned away from me. "But this feeling that you are precious to me will never change…" she balled her hands into fists. "No matter what happens…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

God damn it, SHUT UP YOU DAMN SPOOKY VOICES AUGH.

"No…" Aigis said, turning back to face me. "That's not right. Until now, I have always referred to you as something precious to me, but that is not the correct way to express this feeling. However…" She looked away again. "If I were to use the proper words… I know it would never come true, and I…!"

Before I could move or say anything, she turned and ran away from me again. Once the roof door closed behind her, I slumped down onto one of the benches on the roof.

_"Hey, don't worry about it, man."_ Azren said, appearing next to me. _"She'll come around."_

I looked at him. "You think so?"

He grinned. _"I'm sure of it."_

I laughed a little, then smiled. "Thanks."

_"Anytime."_ He replied.

* * *

I ended up just sorta sitting there for about ten minutes before I finally went back to the dorm. Apparently Aigis had gone up to her room without a word to anyone and locked herself in. When they asked me about it, I denied any knowledge of it and claimed she parted ways with me at the school gates once we finished talking on the roof for a little while. That satisfied their curiosity, and I just went to bed.

Like the day before, when I tried to leave school Aigis wanted to talk to me, so we headed up to the roof again. Once we got up there, she walked over to look over the edge and gazed at the city.

"Isn't it interesting how the sunlight on a clear day in winder seems stronger than it is during the summer?" She asked. "Perhaps it's because the sun is lower in the sky, and you don't have to look up to see it."

"That's one way of looking at it." I commented as I walked over to stand next to her.

"I've gotten used to this view…" She continued. "But it's never exactly the same, and that could also be said of one's daily routine. Or of life itself…" Aigis turned to look at me. "The fated day will be here soon… January Thirty-First…"

"You're right." I nodded. "But we've still got two weeks to prepare."

"Yes…" She agreed. "I come here in order to think. 'I can't let this end… I must protect it.' Thoughts like that…"

Certainly explains where she disappears to at lunch almost everyday.

"Since last time… I have calmed myself by thinking things through." said Aigis. "I thought about the old lady and Mewlie-san… as well as Kiyoshi-san…" She looked slightly upwards. "I wonder if Mewlie-san was alone until the moment of her death… someplace no one could find her…" She lowered her head. "I think… the old lady wanted to be there for her at the end." She fell silent for a moment. "To live means to be connected to other people, but life is finite, and farewells are inevitable. It's sad to consider, but you and I must part one day as well…" She trembled slightly. "And then… I'll never be able to see you again…"

I winced and turned my head away from her slightly.

"There's so much in life that cannot be understood…" She noted. "It's filled with pain… You meet others, forge relationships, and spend time with them… then they are gone, leaving you behind. Leaving you alone…" I heard her move around a little. "When I consider that, I can no longer hold back my feelings… but I understand now. That's just how it is."

I felt my chest tighten as I looked at her. She was facing me with a happy smile.

"No two viewings are alike." She said. "No two days are alike. It is natural for everything to disappear, return, and remain in a constant state of change… Life is finite and ephemeral. That is precisely what makes it precious to use, showing us that we shouldn't waste it." Her smile widened. "It is a miracle for any two like-minded people to meet within the chaotic flux… that's why forging bonds and relationships is a source of happiness." She nodded once. "That is the root cause of the joys of being alive… It's not a cold, but a warm kind of sorrow… shining more brightly as a result of its limits…"

I blinked as my heart started thudding in chest.

"…If I think of it that way, there's no time to falter or hesitate." She looked away shyly. "I need to tell you… even if my wishes are unfulfilled, I have to shade my true feelings…" She completely turned around. I could almost feel her strong resolve.

"Roy-san… I…" Aigis began. "I love you…"

I felt happiness and contentment wash over me, but I couldn't move.

"I know that I'm a machine." She continued, sounding sad. "I know… that I can't be touched. But I don't know why…! All I can see or think about is you, Roy-san…" She hugged herself again, her back still facing me. "I love you so much… that I feel I may break down somehow…"

**CRASH**

_Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana…_

Thank you for snapping me out of that, Spooky Voices.

Aigis turned back around to face me just as I pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"Aigis…" I said softly. "I feel the same way about you…" I tightened my arms around her. "Even if you're not like other girls… none of that matters to me… If I can spend time with you, then I can be happy."

"R-Roy-san…" She murmured, then I felt her arms snake around my waist. "I-I'm sorry. I can't think of anything to say… I wonder if something really has broken inside of me…" She squeezed me a little. "I feel… so happy…"

I smiled as I held her close. "So do I."

"Um…" She began, pulling away from me a little. "W-We should go back…"

"Yeah…" I agreed. "But we don't have to go right now. We could just stay here a little while…" I glanced over at one of the benches nearby.

"I'd like that…" Aigis said, but she wouldn't look at me. "B-But I… can't look at you right now… perhaps… another time?"

I chuckled softly, then gave her another quick hug before I let go. "Okay. I'll let you go on ahead."

"Th-Thank you, Roy-san…" She stammered, then she hurried off. I leaned against the fencing on the edge of the roof and sighed contently.

_"So."_ began Azren. _"Havin' a good day?"_

I smiled. "Best day of my life."

* * *

Once I was sure I gave Aigis enough of a head start, I headed back to the dorm myself. Nothing of note happened that night apart from Mitsuru requesting we wait a couple days before going to Tartarus because she and Akihiko had some entrance exams to take and they needed to study for them. Seeing as how I didn't see a problem with that, I agreed and then just went up to my room to sketch for a little while before I went to bed.

First thing I did the next morning was sneak up on Junpei and smack him on the shoulder.

"Happy birthday, dude!" I grinned as he caught his breath due to me startling him. I'm sneaky.

"Thanks man…" He smiled weakly. "But don't do that! You scared the hell out of me…"

"Sorry." I cringed slightly. "So hey, there anything in particular you got in mind for after school, or do you not have plans?"

"I got somethin' in mind." He replied, his expression turning neutral. "Think you could let everyone know I'm not gonna be back for a while after school?"

"Sure thing, Junpei." I agreed. "But if you take too long, I'm gonna have Koromaru sniff you out."

He laughed. "Alright, alright."

* * *

Nothing happened at school, and I passed on Junpei's message to everyone else at lunch. Surprisingly him and Chidori kinda just vanished once class was over. I wasn't sure what to do, then I saw Aigis was still in her seat. She had a look of deep contemplation on her face.

"Aigis…" I tapped her on the shoulder. "Class is over."

"Hmm?" She snapped out of her slight trance and looked at me. "Oh, Roy-san…" She seemed to blush a little. "Do you have time later today? There is something I would like to tell you… I'm not sure if I can explain it very well… but…"

I smiled. "Sure, I'm free. Junpei's not gonna be back till later, and I think everyone else has something they're doing for a while anyways."

"Thank you very much." She beamed, then her blush darkened. "U-Um… I would like to… show you my room." She lowered her gaze. "I would like you to see how I live, and… um…"

…OKAY. Well, this should be delightfully awkward!

_'You think-'_

**SHUT UP, AZREN.**

* * *

The dorm was basicly empty when we got back. There was a note on the counter from Hamuko saying she went on a walk with Koromaru, Ken, and Shinjiro and wouldn't be back for a little while. I kinda wonder how she beat us back to the dorm, but whatever. I followed Aigis up to her room, admittedly a little nervous. And I swear to GOD, AZREN, if you make **ONE** COMMENT, I am going to-

_'GOOD LORD MAN, CALM DOWN! Geez! I'll be quiet.'_

Thank you.

Aigis opened the door and stepped in, and I followed then shut the door behind me. Okay, that is a cool chair. I'm serious. I want one… and I just noticed there's boxes of ammunition stacked around on the room's floor.

"Oh, um…" Aigis began, noticing my slight hesitance towards the bullets everywhere. "Please don't worry. The shells on the floor are only blanks. There is no gunpowder in them…"

Oh, okay. I feel a lot better now.

I looked around her room. She had a sort of makeshift closet, with about half of it containing Gekkoukan Uniforms, the rest being the various casual clothes she wears around on days off. I even spotted the two Jack Frost Dolls I gave her sitting on top of it.

"S-So, what do you think of my room?" She asked nervously. "Are you surprised?"

"A little." I admitted. "If anything, I was actually expecting more electronic stuff then what you've got here."

"I see…" She murmured. "To be honest… I was a little hesitant to invite you here. I have no heartwarming or pleasant decorations…"

"Yeah you do." I indicated the dolls on top of her closet. "Right there."

She giggled. "I had almost forgotten…" She lowered her head slightly. "It's hard to believe that I once thought this room was normal…" She looked back up at me. "But that's why I wanted to show it to you. As you can see from the décor, I'm a machine… I'm not like human women, such as Yukari-san or Mitsuru-san. That used to make me sad…" She smiled. "But I figured something out. It's something I can only say because I am unable to die."

"Really?" I asked, sitting down on one of the closed containers of ammunition. "What might that be?"

"I… will never leave you." Aigis told me. "No matter how or when your life comes to an end… at that moment, I will be at your side. You will… remain in my heart."

I felt my lips curling upward on their own.

"O-Oh yes… umm…" She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled something out. "Roy-san… will you accept this?"

I held out my hand and she dropped something into my palm. I looked at it, and it was a charred, heavy-duty bolt.

"It is… one of the parts that had to be replaced after I collapsed at the Moonlight Bridge." She explained. "I asked Mitsuru-san to have it sent here. I have… changed, since then." A determined fire burned in her blue eyes. "I'm not afraid, and I won't give up… I'll get back on my feet as many times as it takes… I'll fight by your side and protect you…" She gestured towards the bolt I was turning over in my hand. "This is the proof… I wanted you to hold onto it." She blushed. "It's… a part of me."

I looked at the bolt again, then closed my hand around it and tucked it into my pocket. I have an idea of what to do with it.

"If to live means to spend time with people you've forged relationships with…" Aigis continued. "Then… I want my relationship with you to be the strongest of all. My connection to you is my reason for living…" An innocent smile set itself upon her features. "The thing that's most precious to me… is to be at your side."

I smiled back. She really is too cute for her own good.

**CRASH**

_Thou art I… And I am thou…_

_The bond thou hast nurtured hath finally matured. The innermost power of the Aeon Arcana hath been set free._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Metatron, the ultimate form of the Aeon Arcana. This bond you have forged will never be broken…_

"Roy-san…"

I looked up at Aigis, who had a more noticeable blush on her cheeks. "Yes?"

"I, um… actually have one more favor to ask…" She began, reaching up to touch the ribbon around her neck. "At the base of my neck, behind the knot of the ribbon… My most important component is located there. The source of the artificial psyche that makes me who I am… My emotional engine… the 'Papillon Heart'."

Okay, I'm kinda lost now…

"It's extremely delicate…" She continued. "So I am forbidden to expose it outside of the laboratory's clean room…" Her blush darkened. "I… want you to touch it."

…What.

"If exposed to your skin oils and cells, you genetic information will most likely be burnt into it." Aigis stated firmly. "Even so… I want you to do this."

…So, does that mean… we're technically gonna…?

"I want to leave indelible proof in this body of the understanding that you and I have reached…" Her expression remained unwavering. "Not as a memory that can be erased, but as something permanent… something irrevocable."

She gazed at me intently. I smiled, then stood up and kissed her. Before I broke away, I gently took hold of her left hand.

Aigis gazed at me affectionately. "I'm… so happy…" she fidgeted, then slowly tugged her hand out of my grip. "Well then…" She quickly sat down in her chair and looked away. "Oh, umm… Since you'll be coming into direct contact with my heart, I…" Her face reddened again. "I apologize in advance if I say something odd, or make unusual noises…"

**OKAY.** The awkward levels have just gone off the scale!

"As a precaution, I will cut off motor functions to my arms and legs." Aigis cast her eyes downward shyly. "Well then, umm…" She looked up at me with a small, shy smile. "Will you… untie my ribbon?"

I just nodded in response. This… is going to be… interesting, to say the least.

* * *

Author Notes - And so Roy and Aigis had awkward robo-sex, the end. Not that you people will get to see it. SO ANYWAYS, that was chapter 50 everybody! Current date in-story/in-game is January 16th, Roy is level 90, and he's maxed all of his Social Links. Coming soon: Orpheus Telos, Roy VS Elizabeth, and Roy's Ultimate Persona, among other things. Just you wait, it's gonna be good! ...I hope. o3o

Oh, and to answer possible confusion about Roy's description of the Persona Satan, like with Atropos I don't actually like the design used in Persona 3 and went with the SMT DemiKids version instead. If you wanna see what it looks like, check out Satan's page on the Megami Tensei wiki.


	51. More Stuff Happens

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Lunatsu13** - Indeed it is awkward. And I'm actually just as amazed it's as long as it is already. I surprise myself sometimes.

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - This chapter is just as long as the last one. Perhaps I need to stop writing so damn much. :T

**TiFu **- Technically speaking, he farther then third. And I can't believe I forgot about the Megidolaon Oracle in this chapter! Ah well, I'll just have to have Fuuka use it to Nuke one of the forms of the Nyx Avatar or something. That's gonna be fun. :D

**Astrih Konnash **- The joke with the mis-fusion for Roy, though, is that techincally getting Mara from one should only be possible in Persona 4. I've actually heard of that happening to people(thankfully I'm not one of them). And this chapter IS kind of awesome. But 52 is going to be better. :D

**keyweildinglegend **- I haven't read a lot of P3 fics, but the only one that springs to mind with killing someone else instead of Shinjiro is Fairly English Story. I like my version better, honestly. Mainly because, ya know, I wrote it. o3o

**Despair's Cold Edge** - No. Please dear god do not do the Kisdota laugh. That is moderately obnoxious to me. And Igor is the Ultimate Troll Arcana Persona. He trolls your ass for basicly an entire year while still helping you, then once you're done murding some deity he's like 'kthxbai' and is fuckin' gone. Seriously.

**ZidanReign **- If you want Gurren Lagann meets Persona, dude, go read Fairly English Story again. It's a great show, yeah, but I'm not about to make a crossover with it. And dude, seriously, calm down. Your hyperactiveness is scaring me D:

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I quietly exited Aigis' room sometime later. Apparently she got over stimulated by all that and needed rest, so I left her to get some sleep while I crept down to my room. I tossed my school bag onto my desk, then changed into something more casual then my uniform before I headed down to the lounge. No sign of anyone, not even in the kitchen. I just shrugged to myself, then got a snack before I went back out and plopped down on the sofa. I cracked open the can of soda I grabbed and took a drink just as the front door opened.

"Hey." I greeted, then I got a look at who it was who showed up. It was Junpei and Chidori, and Junpei's outfit was messed up like he'd gotten into a fight or something. "Whoa, Junpei, what the hell happened, man?"

He just smirked. "I had a good day." He yawned, then looked at himself and cringed slightly. "Ugh, 'scuse me for a bit, I need a shower…"

I just watched him walk off, then looked at Chidori. "So…"

"He went to see his father."

…WELL NOW. "I take it from that grin of his it went well?"

"You'll just have to ask him later." Chidori replied, walking towards the kitchen. "He asked me not to tell anyone the details."

I shrugged, then took another sip of my drink. "Erright." I looked at my watch. The mall should be open for a while longer, and I never went to take care of making new 'sonas like I planned to earlier this week. I think I'll go do that once I finish my snack.

* * *

Shinjiro, Hamuko, Ken, and Koromaru returned to the dorm just before I headed out to the mall. I headed straight for the Velvet Room, naturally.

"Hey Igor." I said as I entered, then sat down in my chair. "Evenin', Liz."

Elizabeth smiled. "Hello, Master Roy."

"Greetings, my young friend." replied Igor, then his eyebrow raised slightly. "Hm…?" His grin widened. "Well, well… It seems you've discovered each of the Social Links, and formed strong bonds with them all."

I blinked. I'd actually mostly forgotten I've gotten that 'unbreakable bond' message from the spooky voices from all the links I've made. Well, technically I got something different from the Tower Link, but that's another story.

"In order to have gotten on so well with so many people…" He continued. "You must have worn many faces…"

I laughed. "Not as much as my poker face."

Igor chuckled as well. "Perhaps you'll find this useful, since you seem to be able to adopt any sort of face…" He reached into his coat. "A cipher like you…" He produced a mask that was expressionless and mostly featureless, save the eyes and nose, and was a pearl white in color with light grey ornate markings on it. "…Should have this."

He handed the mask to me, and I looked at it curiously.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It is the Cipher's Mask." Stated Igor. "With it, you'll be able to summon…" His grin widened. "That persona…"

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm interested to see what kind of Persona results from this…" he said. "I'll be looking forward to it."

I shrugged. "Why wait? I came to fuse Personas anyways."

"I see…" if Igor looked happy before, he was out-grinning the Cheshire Cat now. "Well then, which Personae do you wish to combine first?"

* * *

The answer to that question was to first pull Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael out of the compendium and fuse them in a four-persona cross fusion to obtain the Ultimate Aeon Persona, Metatron. He got Samsara and Hama Boost from the fusion, which is cool, and my bond with Aigis strengthened him enough for him to learn Megidolaon and the skills to repel ice and electricity. I pulled Uriel back out of the compendium because I wanted to see about getting Ragnarok onto a better 'sona and managed to get it AND Fire Amp onto Asura, the Ultimate Sun Arcana Persona. Asura is awesome, and has a unique passive skill called Unshaken Will that renders me immune to ailments that affect my mind, like Panic or Charm, which is seriously badass.

Next I created Chi You, the Ultimate Tower Persona. I made sure to use Vishnu, who I still had on-hand, as part of the fusion process so he got Pralaya and can put it to better use then basicly any other 'sona I have, especially because I managed to fuse Arms Master onto him as well. I couldn't get a Strike-type physical for him via inheriting, so I used an Akasha Arts skillcard for him to learn that because he already had Vorpal Blade, turning him into a better Physical damage dealer then Masakado.

After making Chi You, I got a few 'sonas back out of the compendium and set about creating Helel, the Ultimate Star Persona. Helel is, on no uncertain terms, a death machine. I managed to fuse Spell Master onto him, and he learned, via Link Boost, his unique and, according to Elizabeth, massively powerful spell called Morning Star. It's basicly Megidolaon on steroids and is actually less costly to cast. Add to that he apparently enables me to call upon the fusion spell Armageddon, which kills everything forever with no questions asked apart from what I want to disintegrate, as long as I have Satan around as well and it pretty much sealed the deal regarding how awesome he is.

The next Persona I created was Lucifer. I had to do a huge six-persona fusion of Helel, Abaddon, Samael, Beelzebub, and Satan to make him but DAMN, he was so fucking worth it. See, Satan learned that Black Viper skill during our last trip to Tartarus, and Lucifer inherited it along with Morning Star and Mind Charge. Add to that the Judgment Link boosting him enough to learn Spell Master and him getting Null Ice from Abaddon, thus voiding his only weakness, and it's easily the most powerful Persona I've made so far.

Then I remembered how I couldn't fuse Orpheus and Thanatos that one time, and tried again. The result would've been Messiah, the Ultimate Judgment Persona, but I had a cunning, evil plan. I started fusing around skills and such until I got Wind Amp and Panta Rhei onto Thanatos, then fused that one with Orpheus to create a Messiah, who likewise obtained Panta Rhei and Wind Amp. From the boost from the Judgment Arcana, he learned Salvation, which is basicly a super Mediarahan that also curses ailments like poison and stuff, Invigorate 3, alongside his natural Regenerate 3, and Absorb Pierce. I couldn't help but laugh at that last one, especially because of who I think of when I think 'Messiah'.

It was at this point I was down to only a few personae in my head: Messiah, Lucifer, Asura, Chi You, and Metatron. I pulled Thanatos(the awesome old school one with Die For Me because that's the one I had registered) and Helel back out of the compendium, then handed the two of them over to Igor along with all my other Personae except Lucifer and Azren(who I can't use for any sort of fusion at all anyways) to create the Persona that the Cipher's Mask allowed me to make.

Orpheus Telos.

He resembled the original Orpheus in appearance, but his body was a deep red, his arms and legs where white, the edges of his body and the joins of his limbs were gold along with the massive lyre on his back, and he had a pure white scarf around his neck. His face was completely white as well, with two bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Honestly, he reminds me of Aigis, except a dude. He also had no skills by default, so he learned them all from the Fusion. He got Panta Rhei, Wind Amp and Regenerate 3 from Messiah, Unshaken Will from Asura, Spell Master, Mind Charge and Morning Star from Helel, and lastly Invigorate 3 which could've come from Messiah or Chi You. Orph Telos also resists all forms of attack, which is pretty damn awesome.

"An interesting Persona…" Elizabeth noted as Orph vanished into my mind once she registered him in the compendium. "With it, you should have little trouble completing my latest request."

I raised an eyebrow. "You have another one for me?"

She nodded. "You have already fought the Shadow known as the Reaper once before, have you not?"

"Yeah." I held up the bloody button I got from him. "And I beat him."

"May I see that?" Liz asked, holding out her hand.

I shrugged, then handed it to her. She inspected it carefully.

"You truly did defeat the Master of Tartarus…" She smiled. "I had intended to ask you to battle him if you had not done so already, but since you have, I have two things for you."

"And what might those be?"

"First, a reward for defeating the Reaper." She replied, handing me a briefcase. I opened it a- HOLY SHIT THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY. I mean, I know I was loaded from selling crap I found in Tartarus to Kurosawa and from picking the Coin card in those card shuffle things a lot, but DAMN!

"Second, I have a different request." I looked at her. "I wish for you to defeat the Ultimate Opponent in battle."

"Ultimate Opponent?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Think of it as a test of your abilities."

"If it's a test, then are there rules to keep me from cheating?"

She giggled. "You're a sharp one. There are indeed rules." Her expression turned sinister. "Breaking them will result in your painful demise."

I swallowed hard. Holy shit she's scary right now. "And what are the rules?"

"You must fight the Ultimate Opponent alone." She stated. "And you may only use two Personae, and those two cannot nullify, repel, or absorb any attacks the Opponent uses. Countering skills, however, are allowed."

"So… basicly I'm limited to Azren and Orpheus Telos."

"That is a fair estimate." said Elizabeth. "But I am confident in your ability to succeed."

I smiled. "Thanks, Liz. So, where can I find this Ultimate Opponent?"

"At the end the Monad Depths." She told me. "You are more then welcome to have your friends escort you to their, but they will not be able to assist you directly, or you will all be killed."

"Noted." I replied. "In that case, I'm gonna hafta give you back some of this cash for some Personas…"

* * *

I did some quick creative fusing to re-make the original form of Orpheus with better skills before I got Thanatos out of the compendium to recreate Messiah, this time with Die for Me and Mudo Boost for more offensive options and Null Dark to cover his only weakness. He felt different from the first Messiah I made, though, which was kind of weird. I also got Helel and Satan back out of the Compendium, as well as Asura, Skadi, Susano-O, Metatron, Vishnu, and Ananta. I blew most of the cash from Liz doing that, but it's not that big of a deal I've still got a huge stockpile of money that I've only recently begun to put a dent in with the amount of Persona Fusion I've been doing. I headed out of the Velvet Room, then on a sort of hunch went into the Antique Shop. I talked to the lady there and handed over Asura and Helel for Fusion with a mention that Chi You would also yield a powerful weapon before I stocked up on fusion gems, or at least all the Infinity gems I could get along with a few others and another Armageddon, and returned to the Velvet Room to get Asura and Helel back, then returned to the dorm.

I found everyone except Aigis having cake when I got back and stole the last piece before anyone else ate it because I hadn't gotten any myself. Thankfully nobody was pestering me about Aigis, so I didn't have to make anything up to cover my own ass. I went to bed a little while later, and found Junpei with Koromaru at the second floor lounge after I woke up.

"Mornin'." I greeted as I walked over. "So, what happened to you yesterday? And don't just give me that 'I had a good day' crap."

Junpei looked at me slightly warily, then shrugged. "I went to see my dad."

I sat down across from him. "How'd it go?"

"About how I expected, actually." He admitted. "Dad was drunk, and he just started yelling at me. He thought I got kicked outta school and was coming back to beg."

"Chidori was with you, right?" I asked. "What'd he have to say about her?"

Junpei scowled slightly. "He… insulted her."

I winced. "So, what'd you do?"

"I gave him a taste of his own medicine for once." he responded.

"So you laid his ass out with no remorse?"

He laughed a little. "Yeah, pretty much." he folded his arms. "I kinda unloaded on him with everything I've wanted to say to him for years on top of that."

"What made you decide to go see him?"

Junpei looked at me. "Well, we've gotta fight Nyx at the end of the month, and we might die doin' it, so I figure'd 'Why the hell not?'." He smiled. "And it was Trismegistos' idea anyways. Called it a birthday gift to myself."

I laughed. "Havin' Chidori there with ya' probably helped as well, huh?"

"Yeah." He agreed, bobbing his head a little, then he gave me a curious look. "Hey, isn't your birthday in a few days?"

"That it is." I replied. "It's on the twenty-first."

"Seriously?"

I nodded. "Seriously."

"Well hey, we gotta have a real party then!" He exclaimed. "With decorations and everything!"

"Nah, don't worry about it man." I chuckled. "I'm not expecting much of anything, really."

"No way man, we're doin' it!" proclaimed Junpei, leaping to his feet. "And there's nothin' you can do to stop us!"

I just raised my eyebrow, then sighed and shook my head. "Well, whatever then."

* * *

Once I took a shower and got dressed, I came back out and headed up to the third floor to see if any of the girls were awake. Instead, I found Koromaru sitting and sorta staring at the ceiling near one of the tables.

"You know, Future Consultation is coming up."

I looked down the hall to see Fuuka, Yukari, Aigis, and Hamuko approaching.

"Yeah…" commented Yukari. "What are we supposed to say during all that?"

"I dunno, but…" Hamuko spotted Koromaru. "Oh, good morning Koro-chan!"

"Awww…" cooed Yukari. "If you sleep wherever you want, you'll catch a cold…" Then she noticed me. "Hey, what're you doing up here?"

"I was actually gonna check to see if you all where awake." I admitted. "But I guess that's been clarified just now."

_"Indeed it has."_ noted Azren.

Yukari started to say something, then she noticed Aigis had walked over to Koromaru. "…What is it, Aigis?"

Aigis turned to look in the direction Koromaru was facing, then pointed upwards. "There's a miniature camera near the ceiling. It's been camouflaged."

The girls looked at each other, then at me, then we all sort of crowded around Aigis to look at where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a little camera like the one over my mirror in my room on the ceiling.

"Does that mean…" Fuuka began. "It's been recording whoever walks past here?"

"Could be…" replied Hamuko. "But does that mean there's more in the dorm?"

"Oh yeah…" We all looked at Yukari. "I forgot that you can check out anywhere in the dorm from the command room…"

"Does that mean one has been placed in each of our rooms as well?"

Yukari, Fuuka, and Hamuko all looked at each other and seemed to get nervous.

"I-I never thought about it…" admitted Yukari. "But… probably so…"

"Well I know there's on in MY room." I said. "It's right above the mirror. I spotted it during the Dark Hour my second night here at the dorm." I looked at Yukari. "You ever used the system?"

"Uh, last year…" She replied with a slight blush. "Back when we were still making sure you really had the potential…"

_"You were SPYING ON HIM?"_ asked Azren incredulously. _"What the hell!"_

"W-Well, we had to make sure he wasn't transmogrifying in the Dark Hour!" She countered defensively.

"Then…" began Hamuko. "Does that mean someone could spy on the rest of us as well?"

"WHAT?" Fuuka yelped.

"N-No way!" Yukari stated nervously. "You need a key to use the system, and I doubt any of the guys would dare look inside our rooms…"

"I know I wouldn't." I told them. "Because the moment I'd have tried, you'd have found out and beat the shit out of me. And I kind of like not having broken bones."

"It's not you I'm worried about." snarled Yukari. "But if one of the other guys did, I'm gonna kick the living crap out of them before Nyx can get its hands on 'em…!"

"Yukari-san, your vital signs are fluctuating…" Noted Aigis, sounding moderately worried. "Are you in danger of 'dying of shame'?"

Fuuka sighed a little. "Aigis…"

"Anyway, we don't need that stupid system anymore!" said Yukari, her face turning red. "Let's ask Mitsuru-senpai to have it removed!"

Fuuka nodded, then followed Yukari back down the hallway.

"I-I'm gonna go talk to Shinji-kun!" Hamuko stammered, blushing furiously despite seeming slightly angry, before she headed down the stairs.

I looked at Aigis, she looked at me, then we both turned our attention back to the camera.

Koromaru barked. _(I think it's on.)_

"…You're right." Aigis agreed. "The camera's recording right now." She waved her arms around a little bit. "Hello…?"

"Hey, if there's anybody up there watching this right now…" I began. "You've got about five minutes to get the hell out of the Command Room before Yukari shows up to disable the cameras and break your legs, and not necessarily in that order."

I heard footsteps overhead, then Junpei sort of hurried down the stairs, semi-dragging Chidori with him. I just blinked, then looked at Aigis. She was giving me a confused look, and I just shrugged.

"Bad timing, I suppose." I commented.

* * *

The day was kinda boring, and I headed out to the mall to see about getting a necklace made out of the bolt Aigis gave me. I managed to snag the stuff I'd need to do it myself, likely made easier due to Persona skill cheating, and went back to my room at the dorm to do so. Came out nicely, I'd like to think. I picked a very nice, sturdy dull silver chain and the blackened bolt doesn't look that odd in contrast to it. I let everyone know I planned on hitting Tartarus the next day, then I went to bed.

Got up the next morning, then put on my new necklace when I got ready and found Aigis waiting for me in the lounge when I came down to head to school.

"Good morning." She smiled as I approached, then she noticed my new accessory. "Is that…?"

"It is." I replied, smiling back at her. "I wanted to keep it with me."

"I-I see…" she murmured, then she lightly shook her head. "Oh, um… shall we get going now? I… was waiting for you…"

"Sure thing." I said, opening the front door. "Ladies first."

Aigis blushed, but giggled and went out the door first with me following a step behind her.

* * *

The walk to school together was pretty casual, and the day was mostly boring. Once school was out, I headed to the mall to pick up the weapons from the Antique Shop. One was a dagger called Vajra, the other was an angelic axe on a sinister black chain the Shop Owner called the 'Wing of the Fallen Angel'. Considering said axe's blade resembles an angel wing and it was made from Helel, who's basicly Lucifer before his fall from grace, it makes a lot of sense. I handed over Chi You for fusion, then got him back out of the compendium in the Velvet Room before I went back to the dorm.

I handed over the new weapons once I got back, then we just waited around before heading to Tartarus. Upon entering Monad, Junpei decided to charge on ahead of us a little. When we caught up to him, though…

"Am I going crazy, or is there THREE of Junpei?" Yukari asked aloud.

"There's three of him." I replied. I'm serious, there's three Junpeis fighting the same Shadow. One of those Commander Troopers, to be exact. A Hierophant Arcana one, which means it's this big dude that basicly amounts to a robotic golem. "How the shit is he doing that?"

"Trismegistos!" called out one of the Junpeis, before one cut off one of the Shadow's arms with a blazing Katana, another one cut off the other arm, then the third decapitated it for the kill. Two of them disappeared, leaving Junpei standing there with a grin on his face. "His name means thrice great."

"And you've taken it moderately literally and applied it to yourself." I noted.

"Damn right!" He boasted, resting the Masakado Katana on his shoulder. "I'm awesome like that!"

"Clearly." I commented. "Anyways, you ran off before I could tell you all the plan for tonight."

Everyone looked at me curiously.

"You know that girl who called my cell back on New Year's Day?" I asked. "The one who called herself Elizabeth? Well, she gave me a challenge from some person calling themself the 'Ultimate Opponent'. Apparently I've gotta go fight this person, and they're waiting at the end of Monad for me."

"Well, what're we waitin' for? Let's go kick their ass!"

"Problem." I told Junpei. "If I don't fight this person alone, they'll kill us all."

"WHAT?"

"Roy-kun, please tell me you're just joking!" pleaded Hamuko.

"Sorry, Elizabeth doesn't joke around." I apologized. "It's either fight this opponent alone or we all get our heads blown off with lasers. I'd prefer to do that first thing then see you all die."

Everyone sort of scowled, though Aigis was extremely worried.

"Hey, chill guys, I'll be fine." I said. "Now c'mon, I wanted you guys to come with me so we can train along the way."

* * *

And train we did. I gave Orpheus Telos a trial run with a Mind Charged Morning Star, and the result was extreme devastation to the group of shadows that particular nuke went off in. And it was awesome. Although, the sound of the explosion drew basicly every fucking Commander shadow and their small group of Captains to us, basicly pining us down with them blocking our access to the stairs. It didn't even matter how many we nuked the fuck out of, either. More just kept showing up. As if we needed more reason to suspect that basicly every freaking Shadow in Monad wants to eat us today, I mean god DAMN. We're wading through these bastards.

"Anybody got a plan?" Ken called out from behind a pillar that'd gotten knocked over.

"I do!" Hamuko shouted. "I'll get these guys to chill out!"

Hamuko sucked in a deep breath, then blew out a fucking blizzard, sending a massive maelstrom of ice all over the large room the Shadows were in. The Shadows, along with everything else, got covered in about three inches of pure ice.

Shinjiro gave an impressed whistle from next to me. "Damn. What a woman."

I looked at him. "You know, Mitsuru could probably do that as well. Hell, she makes the air colder just by getting angry."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, Hamuko's sweeter."

_"PARDON?"_ Oh goody, the air temperature is **PLUMMETING**.

"Yeah, I said it." Grunted Shinjiro.

"I'm not holding her off." I said quickly, starting towards the stairs.

"Hey, Mitsuru, take it easy…" Aki said to her. "We gotta focus on getting ready to fight Nyx…"

I heard a disgruntled huff, then the clacking of Mitsuru's heels as she started walking. She moved past me, but the air temperature was still low enough for me to see my breath. Akihiko followed a few steps behind her, looking kind of concerned.

"You know, I think she likes him."

"I've been thinking the same thing since April, Chidori." I commented. "And, Hamuko, you gonna finish these guys off or should I?"

"Nah, I got this." She replied, twirling her naginata over her head for a moment before stabbing it into the ice, causing ice spears to stab through the blocks all the shadows were stuck in and kill them. "All done~!"

As she casually pulled her weapon out of the ice and hummed contently while walking to the stairs, I just sorta sighed. I swear, basicly everyone of us is a person of mass destruction. I shudder to imagine how much more powerful we can get.

* * *

"Hey, hang back a second guys. I wanna try something."

We all just sorta looked at Akihiko curiously. We're about two floors below the end of Monad.

"Okay…" I agreed. "Go ahead."

"Thanks." He jogged into the room we were next to where a lone Tank shadow was just sorta minding its own business. It was bigger then normal ones, that's fer sure though.

_{What is Akihiko-senpai doing?}_

"I dunno, Fuuka…"

Aki just sort stared at the Tank for a second, then lightning started arcing from his left hand. The hell is he…?

As if to answer my question, Akihiko surged forward and smashed his electrically charged fist into the tank. "EXTREME MAXIMUM CANNON!" KRA-THOOM

The result of said impact was a massive blast of electrical energy that rivaled something out of Dragonball Z. And a hole in several walls.

"Okay, Aki, where the hell did you get the idea to do that?" Shinjiro asked as his friend walked back over to us from the smoldering crater that used to be a Shadow. "You were never the type to be into manga or anime."

Akihiko rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well, a few guys on the boxing team were talking about this one particular series the other day. They said one of the characters was kinda like me, only… well…"

"An idiot?" I guessed.

"Yeah, pretty much." He laughed. "I forget the name of it, though."

"Katekyo Hitman Reborn."

We all looked at Ken.

"W-Well, I only know of it because they were out of Featherman books at the store I went to one time and I got that one because it looked kinda interesting…" He commented with slight embarrassment. "I'm not really a fan of it…"

_Suuuuure_ you're not.

* * *

Another couple floors worth of Shadow disintegration later, and we'd reached the end of Monad again. However, the person waiting there was not who I expected.

"Elizabeth?" I asked. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I came to be sure my request was fulfilled." She replied simply, then she turned a pointed glare towards everyone else. "And I believe I told you that your friends were not allowed to assist you."

"They know." I stated. "I just had them help me get here."

"I see." Liz murmured, then waved her hand and a small platform with a path to it appeared to the right of the thing we were standing on. "If you would all be so kind as to move over there, I would be most appreciative. It is for your own protection."

I looked back at everyone, and they all looked towards the platform, then at me warily. Aigis seemed especially concerned, not that I blame her.

"It's fine, guys." I told them. "I'll be okay."

"Tch." grunted Shinjiro before he walked over to the new platform. "You'd better."

One by one, the rest of SEES followed him. Once they were all on the platform, the bridge to it disappeared.

I sighed, then turned my attention back to Elizabeth. "So, Liz, where's this Ultimate Opponent I'm supposed to face off against?"

"The adversary I asked you to defeat…" She began with a sly smile. "Is now standing before you."

I blinked. "What."

"Yes…" Her smiled grew larger. "I am referring to myself."

I took a step back and found myself in a combative stance almost instinctively.

"I have long sought an understanding of who I am…" Elizabeth continued. "Just as you and my master have done. Those who set foot in the Velvet Room are all destined to embark on this search for identity." She adjusted the Persona compendium under her left arm. "I have come to know power in many forms. If I face one whose power exceeds my own, then I may discover an answer to my question… the truth of my existence." She looked at me intently. "You may be able to give me that answer. Will you do me the honor of fighting me?"

I swallowed hard and switched to Orpheus Telos. "Yeah, I will."

"You have my thanks." replied Liz, bowing slightly. Her expression turned somewhat sinister. "I may make my living as an elevator attendant, but I know several effective ways of inflicting pain." She chuckled. "And don't worry, I'm not as fragile as I look." Her already sinister expression turned psychotic. "Try to kill me… if you can."

I blinked, then stood in a more relaxed posture. "You do realize what you're asking me to do, right?"

"Of course."

"Alright then." I said, then I pulled off my hat. "Catch." I threw it in the direction of the others and noted that Aigis was the one who caught it. I'm not sure what happened to me at that point, but I felt as though there was almost no limit to what I can do.

_{Wh-What the…? Roy-kun's power is on par with that woman's!}_ Fuuka exclaimed. _{It's unbelievable!}_

I think Mitsuru said something as well, but I wasn't paying attention as I crushed a Cadenza gem for Wesker-Fu and channeled a Mind Charge before charging right at Elizabeth and punching through Orpheus Telos' Persona card into her stomach. The result sent her sprawling backwards into a Panta Rhei from Telos while I activated the Joker State.

I surged forward again and caught her across the face, then smashed my elbow into the side of her head before I kicked her in the side, knocking her down. She recovered quickly, then pulled a card out from the compendium. It shattered and Surt appeared and unleashed a wall of hellish flames at me. I withstood them, and barely had time to register that Elizabeth was counterattacking with the compendium itself as a weapon. I blocked the attack, then grabbed her arm and threw her over my shoulder as I channeled another Mind Charge. I attempted to stomp on her head, but she rolled to the side and I only succeeded in crushing Telos' card for another Panta Rhei. It was at a close enough proximity to launch her into the air, which let me channel Mind Charge and summon Telos yet again for a third Panta Rhei to blast her back down to the ground.

She summoned Jack Frost as she recovered, and the Persona called forth a powerful blizzard that succeeded in freezing me in place long enough for her to smash me with her hefty tome, sending me sliding across a small patch of ice before I managed to recover in time to dodge a bolt of lightning from Thor. Elizabeth summoned Thor a second time, forcing me to again dodge, but I Mind Charged again before summoning Telos, this time for a Morning Star. The attack succeeded in blinding her, as well as causing damage, which let me rush in again and hammer away with my fists. She was a bit more prepared for that, though, and managed to block a few punches and she even kicked me in the chest to send me staggering backwards before summoning Cu Chulainn to blast me with what I think was a Magarudyne.

I braced myself against the powerful winds, then dropped by guard just in time to get smashed across the face by her foot. I crashed to the ground, but thankfully got back up quick enough to dart out of the way of a Mahamaon from Metatron. Liz summoned him again for another that I wasn't able to escape from. I grunted in pain as one of my Homunculi sacrificed itself to keep me up, then I surged forward with another Mind Charge, this time smashing Azren's card with my leg as I kicked Elizabeth in the stomach before he hit her in the jaw with a Chain Hit. She sailed through the air and landed harshly near the edge of the battlefield, then picked herself up and summoned Alice for a Mamudoon.

I sprang backwards and summoned Orpheus Telos to throw Panta Rhei at her again, silently cursing the two persona limitation she insisted upon for me as Nebiros appeared and flashed an Evil Smile. I was unfazed by it, as well as the Eerie Sound he made a when Elizabeth summoned him again. I channeled Mind Charge again and unleashed another Morning Star, to which she responded by summoning Masakado once the dust cleared. I saw a Megidolaon starting to come down and, in a slight panic, pulled out an Infinity gem from my jacket pocket. I crushed it in my hand just as the world exploded into light around me.

* * *

I charged out through the smoke as Masakado appeared again for another Megidolaon that came straight for me, but did nothing to me. I smashed my fist into her head, then drove my knee into her stomach and grabbed her head to slam her into the ground. Surt appeared right in my face and blasted me back with a Maragidyne, which hurt like hell because Infinity had worn off. I pulled a magic bead out of my pocket and crushed it between two fingers to heal myself before dodging a second fire blast from Surt as Elizabeth rose to her feet.

"Magnificent!" She exclaimed happily. "Your power is every bit as impressive as I'd hoped!" She held up another card. "But, the curtain has just risen… Show me your-"

_"Shut up and fight."_ I grumbled, Wesker-Fu-ing my way over to her in a split second to cut her off with a kick to the side of her head. Liz crashed to the ground, then did a sort of flip back to her feet as she called upon Jack Frost for another blizzard.

I got my feet frozen to the ground again, but this time I broke loose before she could hit me and countered with a shoulder tackle and another Chain Hit from Azren. That got me some breathing room for about ten seconds before she swung at me with a bunch of floating cards. I mostly dodged, but got a cut on my face which tells me those things are sharp as hell. Regenerate 3 healed it up quick enough, and I sidestepped a different card she threw at me and just fired a concentrated beam of Morning Star at her from my hand. It impacted her shoulder, then she pulled out a card and evoked Cu Chulainn for another Magarudyne.

I was slightly curious about the lack of an electric attack as I braced myself against the fierce winds as she summoned the Irish legend again for another attack when I came to a realization. She's got a set of rules for herself, and it's got her forced into a strict pattern. Every couple attacks she makes, she has to switch to the next element in her 'chain'. My theory was confirmed when Liz summoned Metatron to throw out a Mahamaon before she lunged at me. I grabbed her leg as she tried to kick me, then slammed her hard against the ground while also using her to break Telos' Persona card to summon him for an uncharged Panta Rhei to further damage her. Elizabeth then managed to throw me across the large platform with only her leg, causing me to crash face-first into the ground and bounce over the edge, but I managed to catch myself before I fell into the abyss that surrounded our battlefield.

I heard someone shouting in panic as I used a quick bit of Panta Rhei channeling to launch myself back onto the platform and directly into a Mamudoon. It thankfully didn't effect me, but the second one Elizabeth threw at me did and it hurt like hell as another Homunculus exploded itself. I channeled a Mind Charged and summoned Telos to throw a wind blast at her just as she summoned Nebiros to unleash a poisonous mist. Thankfully the Panta Rhei cut right through it and slammed into her, but she still managed to toss a card at me. It impacted my left shoulder and it felt almost like I got stabbed, so I grunted in pain as I quickly crushed another Infinity gem to protect myself from her Masakado's Megidolaon. It's way more powerful then any Megidolaon I've ever seen before, so I'm probably justified in using Infinity to block it.

I ran straight through the second Masakadolaon and grabbed her head with my left hand, then started rapidly punching her in the chest. Her response was to kick me in the side, then summon Surt right between us, which cause me to let go of her as the Persona attacked with a wall of hellish flames. I came out moderately singed and burnt, so I used a Cadenza gem to heal myself and activate another Wesker Fu speed boost to dodge the ice storm Elizabeth's Jack Frost was calling forth. I darted around a small barrage of cards she threw at me, then summoned Azren to launch a Wild Card to blast her while I used Mind Charge before having Orpheus attack with Panta Rhei. I got hit by Thor's Maziodyne for my trouble, but managed to avoid the second one. I didn't have much time to react, however, as she immediately summoned Cu Chulainn for Magarudyne twice before moving on to Metatron for a Mahamaon.

Elizabeth charged right at me as the mechanized angel persona vanished and started swinging at me with her compendium in addition to using cards to try and cut me again. I sidestepped the cards and blocked the tome, then channeled a Morning Star into my right hand and punched her with it, the resulting blast sending her flying away once again. She landed on her feet and summoned Nebiros, who flashed another unimpressive Evil Smile before Liz chucked another card at me. I smashed a third Infinity gem in my hand as her Masakado appeared to unleash his insane Megidolaon that I'm already sick of seeing. After it exploded harmlessly around me, I caught sight of her summoning him again, and this time fired a channeled Morning Star in beam form right at the Persona. It impacted it in the head, causing it to halt its attack as Elizabeth screamed in pain. Liz slumped to one knee, breathing heavily and clutching her head as I took the Armageddon spell gem out of my pocket. I glanced at it, then crushed it in my hand to unleash the wrath of the end of time upon her. I heard her shouting again as the world around me again became nothing but brilliant white light.

* * *

When the light faded, Elizabeth was lying facedown on the ground, looking pretty worse for wear. She stirred, then slowly pushed herself up to her knees.

"I…" she began sadly. "I believe that I would find my answer when I challenged one who was stronger than me… but, I was wrong…" She shakily stood up. "I have received no such revelation, not even in defeat."

I sighed tiredly as the Joker State faded.

"Wait…" I looked up at Elizabeth again. "I am mistaken…" she started smiling. "The answer is this: Only I can decide who I am."

I laughed a little, then sat down. God I'm worn out…

"Now, I believe congratulations are in order…" Liz continued, walking towards me. "You have overcome the most difficult obstacle I've placed in your path, and reached the highest level of power you can attain. You shall receive your reward the same as always, but…" She opened the compendium and pulled out the bookmark she kept in it. "Please accept this as well. It is no reward: it is a sign of my gratitude."

I smiled as she held the bookmark out to me, then I carefully took it from her. "You're welcome, Liz."

"Well then…" She bowed slightly before waving her hand, a blue doorway appearing behind her. "Good day."

Elizabeth turned and opened the door as I heard frantic footsteps coming towards me. She went in and shut the door behind her, said door disappearing as my friends crowded around me.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Yukari, quickly kneeling next to me. "You're not seriously hurt, are you?"

"Nah, I'm fine…" I replied. "Just tired is all."

"I've never seen you fight like that before, Fortune." said Mitsuru. "Nor have I ever seen you look quite so serious."

"I have." commented Aki. "It was back when we first came to Tartarus with him, Yukari, and Junpei. He had that same look on his face when he summoned his Persona without even flinching when I was talking."

I gave a weary chuckle. "You actually remember that, Akihiko? Damn." I yawned. "Ah, sorry… and hey, Aigis?"

She looked at me. "Yes, Roy-san?"

"Can you carry me back to the dorm, please?" I asked, wobbling a little. "Imma take a nap now…"

I fell backwards and blacked out.

* * *

When I woke up again, I was in my room. I sat up in bed and noticed I was still dressed, although my jacket was missing. I looked over to my desk and saw Aigis sitting there. I got out of bed and walked over to her, only to find her sleeping peacefully.

Oh man she's so cute right now but I have to wake her up but I don't wanna because she's cute augh

"Roy-san…?"

I looked back at Aigis and she was pushing herself upright, blinking sleepily.

I smiled. "Sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"No…" She replied, lightly shaking her head before she smiled back at me. "I'm glad you're alright…"

"Sorry I worried you." I said as I sat down on my bed. "I was just worn out." I glanced over at my clock. "Um, can you please step out of my room? I, uh, gotta get ready for school…"

Aigis looked over at the clock, then quickly stood up. "Alright." She started towards the door. "I'll be waiting in the lounge for you."

* * *

Once I got ready, I walked to school with Aigis and Fuuka. The day was pretty standard, and therefore boring. I didn't go to the Velvet Room to pick up my reward because the weapon fusion with Chi You should be done by tomorrow, so I can just go take care of them at the same time. We didn't head to Tartarus that night because everyone wanted a break, so I went to bed a little early. After school the next day, I headed to the Antique shop to pick up the Quintessence Bow that was made out of Chi You before I headed into the Velvet Room.

"Hello." I said contently as I walked in and sat down.

"Greetings, Master Roy." replied Elizabeth. "Have you come to collect your reward from my request?"

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Very well." She said, producing a briefcase and handing it to me. "You will find within cards containing powerful armor for yourself and your allies. I do hope you're find it useful."

I flipped open the case and picked up a few of the cards. The 'armor' in question resembles slightly armored versions of our, I suppose 'signature' would be an appropriate term, casual outfits in winter. Kickass. "Thanks Liz. I will."

"I have something for you as well."

I closed the briefcase and looked at Igor. "You do?"

He nodded, grinning his perpetual grin. "You came here once not long ago and inquired as to combining your unique persona with the broken shard of your soul." His grin widened. "It may now be possible to fulfill that request."

I blinked. "How…?"

"The persona Messiah…" He began again. "No doubt when you recreated it, you noticed it seemed… different. The same could be said for the original form of Orpheus. But what of Orpheus Telos? Does it not feel the same as those personae did in the past?"

I raised an eyebrow, then focused on Telos in my head for a second, then Messiah, then Telos again. He's right, Telos does feel about the same as they used to. "Yeah, he does. Why?"

"Throughout your journey, you have nurtured your soul with the strength of bonds." explained Igor. "This strength was channeled into the most readily available vessel; Orpheus. It allowed him to be reborn as Orpheus Telos, and by obtaining him, you have taken the weakened shard of yourself, tempered it, and reforged it to its fullest potential."

I blinked. "So… what does that mean?"

"It means…" His eyes gleamed slightly. "I can combine him with your Shadow."

The Velvet Room was mostly silent for a few moments.

"Well then…" I began, rubbing my hands together. "Let's get on that, shall we?"

* * *

_**"I am thou. And thou art I."**_

I rose from my chair and took a few steps back as the result descended from the air above Igor's table and landed on the floor.

_**"From the core of thine heart, I have been reborn."**_

This… is my Shadow. My Persona. The true manifestation of my soul.

**_"I am Azren Telos, the Decider of Fate."_**

I took a good look at him. He stood about my height, if a little taller, with a large, slightly high-collared dark red jacket over a light grey dress shirt and dark grey vest with dull gold buttons. He didn't have a tie, but instead a slightly large white scarf that was tucked into his jacket. He had on a pair of black pants that resembled a hybrid of dress slacks and cargo pants held up by a gold colored belt with a silver buckle and on his feet were a pair of heavy looking black boots with dark red soles. His hands still resembled the claws somewhat, though slightly rounder while still black with dark grey armored bits. As with his previous incarnation, his skin was completely black and it was hard to tell if he had any features or not apart from his glowing yellow eyes. His hair also resembled his last form, looking sort of unkempt yet neat and was a dark silvery grey color, and poked out from beneath a dark red trilby with a black band.

"So." I began. "This is the real you, huh?"

Azren nodded. _"Looks like it."_

"How do you feel?"

_"Awesome."_ He replied, tucking his hands into the pockets of his new jacket. _"Better then I have in a long time, actually."_

I bobbed my head a little. "Cool."

* * *

So I exited the Velvet Room with Azren Telos in my head while I looked over what he can do.

Fool Arcana, Nullifies Light and Darkness, resists everything else, skills are All's Ace, Joker's Wild, Element Card, Tornado Ace, Mahasukukaja, Wind Amp, Weapon Master, and Mediarahan.

All's Ace is like his old Jack's Trade skill, in that it halves the cost of all my skills, except it also boosts the power of spells by twenty-five percent. Joker's Wild is basicly Wild Card except with a capacity for death infliction on par with Morning Star, and Element Card is freakin' crazy stuff. It basicly lets me throw out any sort of single-target Dyne-level spell I want. Tornado Ace is what you'd get if you combined Magarudyne with Panta Rhei, while Mahasukukaja is twice as powerful as Masukukaja, so now I don't even need Cadenza gems to have super speed. The rest of his skills are nothing I hadn't seen before, but I'll be damned if he's not powerful on top of all this. I pretty much can just use him exclusively, which is awesome.

Unsurprisingly, Azren kept his Telos look when he appeared outside my head, so it's going to be interesting to see how everyone reacts to him back at the Dorm.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" I said as I walked in and shut the door behind me.

"Oh, hi Roy-kun!" Hamuko chirped, then she looked perplexed. "What happened to Azren? He looks different…"

"Huh?" Junpei spun around from his spot on the sofa. "Whoa, he does! What the hell?"

"Junpei, you know that suggestion you had about fusing Azren with Orpheus a little while back?" I asked. He nodded slowly. "Well, I tried again."

_"And this time it worked." _Azren stated smugly. _"Azren Telos, at your service."_

"He's got a last name now?" Shinjiro asked with a raised eyebrow and a 'are you shitting me?' tone.

_"You're just jealous because my coat is more awesome then yours is."_ taunted Azren.

"Don't taunt him, dude." I warned. "I'd rather not have broken bones before the fight with Nyx."

_"Yeah, yeah…" _he grumbled. _"Spoil sport…"_

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

Once I got Azren to stop being quite so full of himself, I just sorta relaxed with everyone for a while before I went to bed.

"Good Morning! Please wake up."

I rolled over in bed a- HELLO MAID COSTUME AIGIS.

She smiled at me. "Happy Birthday, Roy-san."

I blinked as I sat up. I actually almost forgot about that. I'd be ashamed of myself if I wasn't distracted by what Aigis is wearing. "Uh… thanks… but, why are you wearing that?"

"Well…" She began, blushing a little. "I… wanted to do something nice for you today, a-and I remembered how you reacted the last time, s-so I though you'd like it if I did…"

I blinked again. "I… see…" I shook my head quickly to snap myself out of my daze, then stood up and smiled. "You could've done something else instead that I'd have liked just as much, if not more, you know."

Aigis did that adorable head tilt of hers. "What would that be?"

I moved closer to her, then pulled her into a hug.

"This." I said, then I kissed her.

* * *

After a short smooching session, Aigis quickly scurried up to her room to change into her school uniform before anyone else spotted her. She's gotten good at that Masuku speed boosting she can do with Athena, and I'm thankful for it or else things would be very awkward.

I got met with a chorus of 'Happy birthday!' from just about everyone when I came down after getting dressed and I noticed that Yukari looked somewhat different compared to normal. Like, I dunno, she was trying to impress someone or something. She had on a lot of makeup and such, but I mostly just ignored her because I figure whatever poor bastard she's got her eyes on deserves more of my attention and pity. Odd timing on it though, but whatever.

We all headed to school together, and the school day was dull as ever. I let out a large yawn after class, then sighed.

"Roy-san?"

I looked over at Aigis. "Yes?"

"I was wondering…" She began. "Would you like to come with me to the mall…?"

I smiled. "I'd love to."

* * *

So Aigis 'n me scurried out of class and headed over to Paulownia Mall. When we got there, this sorta chubby kid wearing a Gekkoukan Uniform was talking to someone. I don't recognize the guy, but he spotted us.

"Ah, you there!" He called out, moving towards us. "You look as though your life has lost meaning to you. Perhaps I could help alleviate your sorrows with the teachings of Paradise, if you're interested."

I skeptically looked at this guy with a raised eyebrow. "Paradise?"

"Yes!" He grinned. "It is a truly marvelous place that will come about upon the end of the world!"

Oh god please tell me he's joking. "The end of the world?"

"Indeed!" He stated proudly. "The end is nigh, but the world will be reborn for all who believe into a grand paradise and they shall be reincarnated into beautiful, new forms!"

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Suuuuure. I think I'll pass… " I looked over his shoulder. " And hey, your pal over there's talkin' to someone."

"Hmm?" The chubby guy turned around. "Ah, thank you for telling me! Excuse me, sir!"

Chubbo went back over to the other guys and had a talk with them.

"Roy-san…" I glanced over at Aigis. "Do you think that he is among those who worship Nyx?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I've heard a lot of those cult guys ranting, but none of 'em mentioned a paradise or anything of the sort, just that 'you will be saved if you believe' and crap like that."

"Oh wow, you're interested in joining too?" exclaimed the fat guy happily, drawing our attention. "Finally, Paradise is smiling on me! Now, if you would please come with me…"

Chubs led his two new pals away, towards the alley that the Velvet Room door is in. Wait a second, those guys look… Oh fucking hell, it's two of those guys from back in June again.

"Aigis." I said quickly. "We need to follow them."

She looked at me curiously. "Is something wrong?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think that guy who was talking to us is about to get mugged."

Aigis' head snapped sharply in the direction they walked off in, then the two of us ran over to the entrance to the alley. Chubbo was surrounded, the two new 'friends' of his blocking his escape back to the mall while a third, middle-aged looking guy was standing infront of him, looking angry. The glow of the Velvet Room Door cast an interesting blue light on everything.

"Wha? Th-This is…" stammered the guy. "…An emergency! A serious emergency!"

"You going to talk about the end of the world some more?" grunted the middle-aged guy. "Please, you're not the only group out there talkin' about that junk. And from what I hear, those Nyx guys aren't interested in 'initiation fees', they're just waitin' for their precious 'Nyx-sama' to come save them while not caring about material wealth. I guess a lot of these cults just borrow ideas from other, actual religions, don't they? Tell the truth!"

"Y-You mean…" panicked Chubbo as the two punks behind him cracked their knuckles. "This was all a trick?"

"How is it any different from you tricking my son?" snapped the older guy. "You went too far, kid. I tried to do this civilly, but I don't even feel bad anymore." He looked at the punks behind Chubbo. "Try not to hit his face. If he gets scars, then he'll be able to press charges or something."

I sighed to myself, then looked over at Aigis. "Excuse me for a minute." I turned away and started down the alleyway. "Excuse me, but what the fuck are you bone heads doing?"

"Mind your own-!" started one of the punks, then he seemed to panic when he saw me. "Oh shit!" he grabbed his friend and shook him a few times. "Dude, it's that guy!"

"What guy?" asked the other punk before he turned around and saw me, then scowled angrily. Hey, it's that guy me and Shinjiro beat the shit out of that one time! Thought he looked familiar. "You again!"

I smiled. "Yep, me again." I cracked my knuckles. "Ready for round three?"

"Oh, I'm more then ready for you this time, asshole!" He smirked, pulling out a switchblade. "I'll cut that damn grin off your fucking face!"

The latest Darwin award winner charged towards me with his knife, but I caught his arm before he could try and stab me and twisted his hand so he dropped the knife. I then smashed my knee into his stomach before I grabbed him and threw him at his buddy.

"What's your problem, kid?" snarled the middle aged guy. "This doesn't concern you, it's between me and fatso here."

I casually picked up the knife the guy dropped and flicked it shut, then tucked it into my pocket as the two punks stood up. "I dunno what my problem is." I turned a glare towards him and the punks. "But I wager it's got something to do with you three trying to mug that guy."

"I'm not mugging him!" counted the older guy. "I'm teaching him a lesson! He's been scamming people out of money for months, if not longer, and one of those people was my son!"

Eyebrow. "So that justifies getting these two idiots to come beat him up?"

He growled. "Look, just stay out of it!"

"Shut up old timer!" barked the dude who's knife I just stole. "I don't care about your damn problem with the lard ball anymore, I've got my own beef with this guy!"

I sighed as he charged at me again, then laid his stupid ass out with a single punch straight to his face. He slid to a stop on the ground at the feet of his buddy. I'm pretty sure I broke his nose with that.

"Fuck this, man!" said the other punk before he picked up his friend and started past me in a panic. "I'm gettin' outta here!"

I watched him drag his unconscious friend past Aigis, then heard the older guy snarl in frustration.

"I've had just about enough of this!" He grunted as I looked at him. He turned his attention to Chubbo, who was cowering on the ground. "Look, just forget about the money, but I don't ever want to see you near my son again!"

The guy grumbled to himself, then stalked past me. Aigis approached, then I returned my attention to the guy I just saved. Moon Arcana.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah…" He replied slowly as he stood up. "I-I'm okay…" He smiled. "Thank you for saving me…"

"No problem." I replied. "Just be more careful who you try to convert, erright?"

He nodded. "I will. Thanks!"

Chubbo quickly darted past me, faster then I expected someone his size to be able to, and I just sorta sighed.

"Are you alright, Roy-san?"

"Yeah, Aigis, I'm fine…" I said. "So, anyways, what'd you want to come here for in the first place?"

* * *

Turns out the answer to that question was to hit the Arcade and play DDR for a while. There was no way I could object, even if I was the one paying. Totally worth it. After about two hours of that, though, my cellphone went off.

I flipped it open and put it up to my ear. "Hello?"

_"Hey, where the heck are you?"_ snapped Yukari from the other end of the line. _"You just disappeared after school was out!"_

"Geez, calm down and stop fucking yelling IN MY EAR." I replied angrily. "I'm at the Arcade with Aigis right now. What's the big deal?"

_"The big deal is we've been waiting for you to get back for the last half hour!"_ she stated. _"Now get back here before Junpei starts eating the cake Shinjiro-san made for you!"_

"Can do. See ya in a bit." I closed my phone and grumbled. "Fuckin' Yukari…"

* * *

"I'm baaack~!" I sang as I threw open the front door of the dorm with Aigis a few steps behind me. "So where's the cake?"

"Over here."

I looked over at the table and everyone was sorta gathered around it.

"About time, man!" griped Junpei as I walked over to the table. "You have any idea how hard it was for me to not try to just cut me a huge slice of this?"

"Ah, quit your complaining." I told him. "Anybody got something to cut this with?"

Shinjiro, of course, held up a knife. "Right here."

"Sweet. Cut 'er up 'n pass around the slices then!"

* * *

Once everyone had some cake we all sorta plopped down on the lounge sofas and started eating.

"Oh, hey Roy…"

I looked over at Yukari. "Hmm?"

"I… uh… got you something…" She said, producing a box and handing it to me. "Happy Birthday."

I blinked, then set my half-eaten slice of cake down and took it from her. "Thanks, Yukari."

I set the box on my lap, and had a small smile on my face as I opened the box. Said smile faded a little when I beheld the contents of the box. I reached in an pulled out a new black fedora with a light grey band.

"Do you like it?" Yukari asked. "I thought you'd like one to replace the one you're always wearing. It looks pretty old and worn out."

My eye twitched, then I violently stuffed the fedora back into the box, grabbed my slice of cake off the coffee table, then stood up and moved over to the kitchen table to sit down.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"Shut up, Yukari." I growled bitterly.

"What's your problem all of a sudden?"

I slammed my hands down on the table and stood up, shooting a glare at her. "YOU are my problem right now, Yukari!"

"Whoa, take it easy man…" Junpei said quickly. "What's going on? Why're you so pissed?"

"Because Yukari thought she could replace the last birthday gift my parents ever gave me!" I exclaimed. "And they weren't even alive to see me get it!"

The dorm was silent. I sighed, then sat down and quickly ate the last of my slice of cake.

"We're going to Tartarus tonight." I said once I was done. "I need to kill something."

* * *

I passed out the new armor from Liz to everyone and gave fucking Yukari that new bow before I just kind of avoided everyone till we left for Tartarus. The trip was kind of awkward, mostly because I was silently fuming most of the way. I got over it by the time we reached the school just as the Dark Hour hit. Mainly because I got focused on something else.

"Fortune, what are you doing?"

I looked back over my shoulder at Mitsuru from my spot on the Teleporter thing in the lobby of Tartarus. "Going up the tower."

"Why?" asked Chidori. "The Shadows up there aren't as powerful as the ones in Monad."

I looked back at the access point. "I'm not out for a slaughter. I want a full-on brawl, and the only one I can probably get one from is wary of dropping by Monad."

"Only…? Wait, you're after the Reaper again, aren't you?"

"Hit the nail on the head, Ken." I replied, selecting the highest floor in the tower to warp to. "Feel free to come watch the fight."

A short flash of light later, and I walked off the access point on the two-hundred fifty-second floor and looked around.

**'You mentioned me, human?'**

I turned my head to see the Reaper appear from a wall.

"Yeah." I replied.

**'What seems to be on your mind?'**

"I want another fight." I stated.

The Reaper seemed to study me closely.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well? How 'bout it?"

**'You have grown quite powerful.' **He noted. **'A far cry from the determined boy I fought earlier in the night.'**

Earlier…? Oh, right. Eternal Dark Hour here, duh. Facepalm.

**'Perhaps as you are now, you will prove to be an equal match for me.'**

Huh? "What do you mean 'an equal match'? Didn't I beat you last time?"

**'I merely conceded defeat at the time.' **said the Reaper matter-of-factly. **'I restrained myself for the purposes of the fight.'**

"What?"

**'Do you believe that, as you were, you could have challenged my full strength?' **He asked sharply.

I scowled slightly.

**'I did not think so, human.'** His gaze focused on me more intently. **'As you are now, however… I believe you are more then capable of pitting your strength against my own.'** The chains floating around the Reaper's torso along with whatever was tying the bag around his head to his neck began to shudder and crack. **'This form restrains my power. But now… I will show you the true form of DEATH!'**

The chains exploded, and I was blinded for a moment by a flash of light. When I could see again, I took a step back in surprise when I saw the Reaper.

He had a new form now. In place of his normal bloody, bag head serial killer in a trench coat and dual wielding revolvers look was what very closely resembled Thanatos. Instead of a Katana and chain cape of coffins, however, were a large, sinister scythe and a hooded black cloak. The white 'skull' mask didn't even appear to be attached to anything, and merely floated inside the hood.

"...Why do you look like Thanatos?"

The Reaper looked at me curiously. **'Thanatos...? Ah, you refer to the Harbinger of Nyx, correct? I do not resemble he, he resembles me. Likely the ones who created him based him upon myself.'**

I blinked. That… makes sense. If you're trying to make somethin' to call down the apocalypse, why not make it look like death itself?

**'Now then…'** The True Reaper took a combative stance with his scythe in hand. The polished silver metal of the blade gleamed menacingly. **'Are you prepared, human?'**

I nodded sharply, then took my own stance as I triggered the Joker State. "Ready."

**'Then let us begin!'**

* * *

Author Notes - Cliffhanger of evil! MWAHAHAHAHA! Anywho, if you're curious about what Roy said prior to the Elizabeth fight, mainly his question about what she was asking him, it's that she was asking him to fight seriously. Like, really seriously. Hence why he cut off her banter later on and hardly made any himself. When Roy is in serious mode, he does not fuck around, he fucks you up. And he's got his Ultimate Persona now! As with Azren before him, he's completely made the fuck up and has a lot of unique skills. He's also completely fucking BROKEN. I could've made him worse, but I didn't want Roy to curbstomp everything in existance. And Roy gets pissed at Yukari again! And the Reaper is back for Round 2 in a manner inspired by the Neo-Reaper fight from Lusnati Style. Chapter 52 is going to start out with PURE AWESOME because of it. Hope you enjoy!


	52. Round Two: FIGHT

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Abyss of Essance** - It's Nozomi. Mamoru hasn't appeared at all, actually. Hasn't even been mentioned either. Same for Mutatsu. And I hope you'll like what I did with the Reaper fight, as part of the reason this chapter took so long is because I had a hard time writing it.

**Lunatsu13** - I never explicitly mentioned who Yukari was looking to get attention from, just that Roy noticed her makeup. As for the gift, it could just be she was trying to do something nice because if you look at all the other mentioned birthdays in the story, no gift giving is mentioned. And I've already done a bit of setup for the Answer of Aeon. Good luck trying to find it, as the some of the more important stuff is subtle(or I'd like to think it is, anyways)

**TiFu** - The thing with Roy was him hitting level 99. He got to the fight with like, 1 exp left to level up so that conversation made him level up sheerly because of sheer willpower. I have no idea how it works, but it did and it's awesome. Maybe. And yeah, Yukari really doesn't seem to get the extent of Roy's dislike for her. That'll change soon enough, though. Don't you worry.

**Overlord Duelist** - And as of the end of THIS chapter, they only have five days till the Nyx Showdown.

**Despair's Cold Edge** - That's actually the kind of thing you can expect from Norimoto Style. Especially Naoto. I mean, she shoots her Persona card to summon it. Why not try to shoot an enemy at the same time?

**keyweildinglegend** - Oh, you should look at the picture of Azren Telos that Droplet of Sour drew. Got less then two weeks before he closes his Deviant Art, so check it out while you can. I have it fave'd on my DA page(link on my profile).

**Justhere21** - Yeah, I noticed that as well. A lot of my earlier chapters were basicly half the size of the last two.

And I would like to apologize for how long this chapter took. I got hit with a lot of blockage in reguards to this, and sadly I think my story is suffering from Ending Fatigue right now. But, I'll still try to get back into a rythm with the remaining chapters of the story! That said, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

I mahakaja'd out of the way of a Megidolaon slash wave from the Reaper's scythe and threw a Fire Element Card at him. It exploded in his face, but he charged straight for me, unfazed by the attack, and swung at me with his scythe. I hopped over the blade, then stomped on the weapon to knock it from his grip before I fiercely uppercutted him in the jaw, then mahakaja'd behind him and smashed my elbow into his spine to knock him down.

He fell, but snagged his scythe up off the ground and hit me in the face with the shaft, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I rolled to one side and sprang to my feet before he could bury the blade of his weapon into my skull as Azren's card floated in my hand.

_"AZREN TELOS!"_ I crushed the card and he surged into existence, unleashing a massive surge of cutting winds around the battlefield like an explosion. It seemed to cause the Reaper to stagger slightly, and I pounced on him with a straight punch into his face before I kicked him in the chest to knock him back further. He retaliated with a sudden spike of ice erupting from nowhere aimed at my head, which I sidestepped only to be struck by lightning. The Reaper attacked again, this time swinging his scythe to call up an orange vortex of cutting energy that I wasn't able to escape from. It hurt like hell, and I think got a few cuts on my face. I ducked under another swing of his scythe and got kicked in the stomach and launched away for my trouble. It hurt, but at least I won't have to wonder how the fuck he kicked me this time.

I rolled over and got up only to be blasted back down by a fireball and knocked into a wall. I slid to the ground, then looked up in time to see the Reaper looming overhead, poised to try and kill me. Before I could retaliate or anything, though, something cream colored blocked my line of sight and I heard the sound of something hitting something else and saw a light purple glow at the edges of my field of vision.

"I won't let you hurt him!" Aigis declared before she opened fire with her finger guns, her shots striking the Master of Tartarus and sending him staggering backwards.

**'No interference!'** Shouted the Reaper angrily as he regained his balance while my jaw was still mostly on the floor.

"Too late, pal!" came Junpei's voice before he did his Rule of Three thing and Zerg Rushed the Reaper, who was forced back as he tried to parry three katanas with his scythe. "You should've said so before the fight started!"

"Not like I'd have listened anyways!" I looked over to see Shinjiro smash the Corpse Rod into the ground, which made a giant gold-colored fist rocket right at the Reaper just as the Junpeis got out of the way. "I ain't scared of you! Ken, go for it!"

"KALA-NEMI!" **BANG** HOLY SHIT KEN'S RIDING ON HIS PERSONA'S SHOULDER AND IT JUST PUNCHED THE REAPER INTO THE WALL

"Roy-san, are you alright?"

_"Huh?"_ My attention snapped back to Aigis. _"Oh, uh, yeah…"_ I smiled. _"Thanks."_

She smiled back at me. "You're welcome."

I hopped to my feet in time to see Yukari launching what basicly amounted to a fucking wall of Tornado Arrows at the Reaper, who deflected some of them but still got hit by a lot. Mitsuru followed up with a barrage of ice spikes jutting out every which way that forced the Reaper onto the defensive, especially once Hamuko started adding in her own. He hacked and slashed them apart but he couldn't keep up with all of it, and to make his life worse Ken and Akihiko started chucking Ziodynes into there as well.

Wait a second, where the hell is-

A semi-distorted howl cut through the air as a fireball shaped like a Wolf's head smashed through the ice spikes and body checked the Reaper into another wall, then flew back before turning into Koromaru, who landed gracefully on one of the ice spikes.

_'Best. Dog. FOREVER.'_

Damn straight.

"Thea!" **BANG** _FWOOOOOOM_

WHOA DAMN THAT WAS A FIRE LASER DEATH BEAM FROM CHIDORI

_FWOOM FWOOM FWOOM FWOOM **BLAM**_

Aaaand she decided to up the ante with Fire Laser Beam Spam! God damn, that was cool.

"Roy-san, please move."

Eh? I looked o- HOLY SHIT THOSE ARE FUCKING CHAINGUNS MADE OF TARUKAJA FLOATING NEXT TO AIGIS

"Roy-san!"

_"Oh, right! Moving!"_ I scurried out of the way, then turned in time to see her open fire with two laser gatling guns and her own finger guns. The barrage of gunfire tore into the Reaper as he tried to fend of the insane barrage of attacks everyone was throwing his way.

…Wait, why are they all going so ridiculous about some of these things? I mean christ, Junpei just launched that one Wave Motion Gun version of the Hadouken from Street Fighter at the Reaper, except his is made of FIRE!

_'You DID tell them to go nuts.'_

That's true. I'm kinda ashamed I forgot… And is Shinjiro eyeing that pillar like he plans to- **CRASH** -rip it out of the ground and- **SMASH** -hit the Reaper with it?

_'Looks like it.'_

I'm beginning to feel left out… Wait, don't I still have those extra weapons and stuff everyone gave back to me? Like Gungnir and Gae Bolg?

_'Also that switchblade you took from that punk earlier today.'_

…Why did I keep that again?

_'I dunno, just roll with it.'_

Works for me!

I pulled Gungnir and Gae Bolg out of their cards, then set about charging them up.

"Roy, what're you doing?"

_"Winding up for a Big Finish! You guys just keep the Reaper busy a little longer, please!"_

"No problem! Caesar!" **BANG** KRA-_THOOM_

Okay, Azren, any idea how to speed this up?

_'You've got a Mind Charge Skillcard, right? Channel that shit.'_

…BRILLIANT.

I went with that idea and now the two mythical spears are really surging with power. Okay, think we're good here! FUUKA! Get everyone to move out of my way!

_{Everyone, look out! Roy-kun's going to attack!}_

_"You know something guys…"_ I began as I drew my right arm back with Gungnir floating and sparking above it. _"RAILGUNS!"_ I threw my arm forward, sending the spear screaming through the air and into the Reaper's right shoulder, then drew the switchblade from my pocket and started charging that up. _"BEAT!"_ I threw my other arm forward, firing Gae Bolg into the Reaper's left shoulder. _"EVERYTHING!"_ I fired the switchblade straight into the Reaper's head. It also completely obliterated his head. The headless, armless body fell to its knees and evaporated into wisps of black smoke.

"HA! Take that, ya creep!" Junpei taunted, resting his katana on his shoulder.

A slow, deep chuckle began echoing through the halls before it became full on near-maniacal laughter.

_"Still not dead, Reaper?"_ I asked.

**'Indeed!'** Came his booming reply, still laughing a little. **'But that… ha, that was a true battle!'**

"Battle? We stomped you into the ground before Roy blew your head off!"

**'That is correct.'** The Reaper admitted to Junpei. **'But it was still a far more grand affair then I have ever seen in my existence. The Fool who leads you and the Priestess who assists you know I desired a worthy foe, which led to me assisting the Fool in facing himself. The duel was satisfying, moreso then the exchanges with those who wielded similar power to your own in the past.'**

"You're saying you've fought Persona-users before?" asked Mitsuru.

**'I have. Those were more… chaotic affairs, I must say. The ones in the past simply fled till they could destroy me when I appeared before them. The fights were hollow. No meaning outside of mere self preservation.'** he sighed. **'The way you all fought, however, was different. The Fool fought before because he wished to better himself. He fought this time as a means to test himself, as did you all when you intervened. Against those wielders of the power Persona of the past, never before now have I had such a crushing, ruinous defeat handed to me. And yet I find myself laughing!'** The Reaper appeared before us in his true form, holding his scythe as though it was a walking stick. **'I have found beings worthy of facing my true strength, to force me to fight with all that I am, and have been defeated as though I was but a mere leaf at the whim of the winds!' **He cast his gaze over all of us.** 'I say this to you all with great confidence; That which calls itself the Death of this world is no match for the likes of you.'** The Reaper bowed slightly. **'Farewell for now, humans.'**

The Reaper stepped back and vanished into the wall.

"Ha! Nyx doesn't stand a chance against us!" Junpei cheered proudly. "This'll be a piece of cake!"

"Don't get overconfident, Iori." warned Mitsuru. "Fighting Nyx will be different then assisting Fortune."

"Thanks for that, by the way." I winced as I dropped out of the Joker State. "Not sure I was really thinkin' straight when I was comin' up here…"

"We noticed." Shinjiro stated. "It's not that hard to tell when you're not in the right frame of mind."

"Is it really?"

Ken shook his head. "No, when you get mad the air gets a little bit thicker or there's a constant slight breeze. Like how it gets colder when Mitsuru-san is unhappy."

"Ah." I winced again. "Well, I'll have to work on that…"

* * *

There wasn't much else for us to do after that, so we just killed some stuff in Monad for about twenty minutes then went back to the dorm and got some rest. I ended up getting kidnapped by Yukari after school and dragged up to the roof the next day.

"What's this about?" I grumbled. I was planning on walking home with Aigis.

"Well…" Yukari began nervously. "I wanted to… apologize for yesterday. I had no idea… I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry?" I parroted. "You try to, in essence, replace my parents and all you have to say is you're sorry?"

She whirled around to look at me with panic. "I wasn't-!"

"Yes, you were Yukari." I snapped. "You might not have done it on purpose, but that's what you were trying to do. To make this sound like something you could understand, it'd be like your mom trying to replace your dad." I crossed my arms. "Speaking of which, have you talked to her?"

Yukari turned her head away from me. "…No…"

"Why not?"

"Because… I…" She tightly shut her eyes and scowled.

"You're afraid, aren't you? Are you god damn kidding me, Yukari? We're going up against Nyx in less then nine days, and you're scared of going to talk to your mom?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I can hear the annoyed edge to my voice. Yukari just kept her eyes closed. "What is the big fucking deal? Are you scared it'll come to blows between you? Well, newsflash for ya, Yukari, Junpei was scared of the same damn thing happening with his Dad, but he still went to see the guy. And, from what he's told me, he laid that asshole out when push came to shove." I glared at her. "Hell, just look around at everyone at the dorm. They're all moving towards some kind of closure for the loose ends they've got in their lives that they may never get the chance to tie up if we loose on the thirty-first. But not you. You're just looking away and pushing it aside because you don't want to have to deal with it." I let my arms drop back to my sides. "I have no idea what fucking possessed you to try and give me that hat, and honestly I don't want to find out. All I have left to say to you right now is to get your head out of your ass and sort your shit out before it's too god damn late."

I spun around and started towards the roof exit.

"I'll see you back at the dorm." I growled before I opened the door and went back inside the school.

* * *

I felt much better when I got back down to the classroom and found Aigis waiting for me. Nothing much happened for the next few days, though Yukari was kinda quiet around me to which I'm not complaining. The twenty fifth rolled around, and after school I had to meet up with Ms. Toriumi for Career Counseling.

"Let's begin, shall we? I don't have much to say, though. In the end, it's your decision." She said, then she lifted up her clipboard. "Alright, first question… Are you planning on going to college after you graduate, or entering the workforce?"

I scrunched my eyebrows together as I tried to think. "I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I'm not exactly sure I'll still be in Japan after I graduate, but if I am then I'll probably go to college."

"I see. Well, if you've given serious thought to your decision, then I believe that is what you should do." she replied seriously. "Now, it's important to keep in mind that this decision is yours, and yours alone. If someone else makes it for you, you'll regret it later and then you'll have to live with the consequences, whatever they may be. But, to be honest, I'm quite confident in you." Ms. Toriumi smiled. "You've really matured over this last year. I'm sure you're aware of it as well. What do you think has helped to bring about this change in you?"

I glanced at Azren. "Having my expectations shattered."

Her expression turned curious. "Shattered?"

I nodded. "Yeah. A lot of things happened this year I never expected. Met people, helped people…" My lips twitched upwards into a slight smirk. "And other things I didn't see coming. It's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't change it for anything."

Ms. Toriumi smiled again. "I see. Well, whatever the reason, you should be proud of the young man you've become." She glanced down at her clipboard for a moment. "Looks like that's all for now. I hope you have a successful senior year." She turned a page on her clipboard. "Let's see, uh… who's next? …Ah, Aigis-san." She looked back up at me. "Would you mind letter her know?"

I stood up. "Sure thing, sensei."

* * *

I didn't have to look around very much, as Aigis was on the roof of the school. She looked kind of like she was lost in thought.

"Something on your mind, Aigis?"

She turned around quickly, slightly startled. "Oh, Roy-san…" She relaxed her posture. "I'm sorry I went off on my own… and it's nothing, really. I just needed some time to think."

I walked over next to her. "Think about what?"

She fidgeted slightly and looked back out at the city. "When I finally calmed down after New Year's, I realized something… When I fought Ryoji… I got really scared when my consciousness began to fade. But, that wasn't all…" She lowered her gaze. "I was also confused and embarrassed when I realized I couldn't defeat him… but I couldn't defeat him ten years ago either, and I didn't have those feelings then… I…" Aigis turned her head to face me. "I really have changed…"

I smiled at her. "Yeah, you have."

"I've been thinking a lot about this change that's occurred in me." She laughed lightly and turned to face the scenery before us. "You know, in the past if I didn't understand something, I would just ask someone to explain it to me. But since I've decided to 'live', no one's been able to answer the questions I have been facing. However…" She looked at me again. "There is one thing I've come to understand. The reason why I said my highest priority was to be with you… was so I could monitor 'Death'… but…"

My smile widened. "But now it's because you love me?"

Aigis nodded, her own small smile gracing her features. "Yes. Even though 'Death' is no longer within you, I still want to be by your side."

I moved a little closer and put my arm around her shoulder. "And so do I."

I felt Aigis' arm slide around my waist and pull me closer as she rested her head against my shoulder. Geez I'm really tall compared to her.

"I still don't know what it means to 'live yet…" she began quietly. "But, I want to learn the answer… and I think I can, if I'm with you…" She looked up at me. "So please… take me with you! I may not be strong enough… but I'll fight by your side to the end!"

I just kept smiling at her. "I don't want you anywhere else, Aigis."

Her blue eyes gleamed with gratitude. "Thank you… Roy…"

I felt my heart skip a beat again. "You're welcome."

* * *

About ten seconds later, though, I remembered why I went up to find her in the first place and had to take her to Ms. Toriumi.

Once all that was sorted out, we headed back to the dorm. Around eight o'clock, though, I got a surprise call on my cell as I sat on the sofa sketching. I set my pencil down and pulled out my cell quickly. Caller ID says it's the Velvet Room. I flipped it open and put it up to my ear.

"Hello?"

_"Hello Master Roy."_ Elizabeth…? No, that's someone else… _"It has come to my attention that you and your allies have triumphed over the Master of Tartarus at his full strength. In light of this, I have my own request for you. If you would please make your way to Tartarus this evening, I will explain it to you in person."_

"Uh, okay…" I replied hesitantly. "But who are you?"

_"Ah, forgive me. My name is Margaret, and I am Elizabeth's older sister."_ she stated. _"I don't believe we've ever spoken in person before. I apologize for the confusion. Have a pleasant evening."_

I looked at my phone oddly as the line went dead, then flipped it closed.

"Is something wrong, Roy-kun?"

I turned my head towards Fuuka.

"Kinda…" I replied. "We need to head to Tartarus tonight. Apparently something's come up."

* * *

"Oh for fuck's sake, where the shit does THAT door lead to? Tartarus' fucking broom closet?"

Another giant door decided to appear in Tartarus' lobby on the opposite side of the stairs as the Monad Door. This one is large and silvery blue in color, but otherwise matches the look of the door to Monad.

"I'm not even sure why I'm still surprised by anything that happens to us anymore." commented Junpei.

"Me either…" sighed Yukari, then she looked at me. "So is that door the thing you were talking about?"

I shrugged. "Probably. Only one way to find out…"

We pushed open the large set of doors and found ourselves in a sort of blackish blue void kinda place with a single door in it. Said door had twelve small masks on it - easily recognized as the masks Shadows wear. Well, there were also other doors, but those ones are floating around inaccessibly in a circle around the semi-platform thing we're standing on.

"It was good of you to come."

Our attention shifted to an elegant woman dressed in blue with blonde hair and yellow eyes who stepped out from behind the door.

"I am Margaret." She continued. "I am one who rules over power…" Her lips curled into a small smile. "Will that description help you understand?"

"No, not really." I said. "And why'd you call me earlier?"

"As I said, I've heard a lot about you." stated Margaret. "I thought it was time I saw you with my own eyes." She made a sweeping gesture with her right arm. "This is the Vision Quest Hall. It is a world inside of you that I have prepared."

I raised an eyebrow. "So basicly we're inside my head right now?"

"Somewhat." She replied. "I had intended to have various contests for you here, each one in accordance with your memories, but after hearing of your exploits against the Master of Tartarus, I felt something else was in order." Margaret indicated the door next to her. "Do you remember the giant Shadows you've fought so far?"

"Unfortunately, yes." I said warily. "Why?"

"Here, you will be able to fight them again, just as you did the first time." she informed us. "However, they should prove to be far more challenging then in the past."

"So you brought them back and made them STRONGER?" Yukari asked.

"To an extent." Margaret said pointedly. "But I think you all will understand faster if you open the door rather than stand here asking questions."

"One last question." I began. "Why'd you do all this?"

Margaret smirked. "Think of it as my challenge to you, but whether or not you accept is up to you. I won't think less of you if you retreat."

I scoffed. "Please, remember who you're talking to." I walked over to the door. "Hope you're ready everyone, because it's time for round two with the Arcana Shadows!"

I opened the door and a bright light came from within.

* * *

The light faded, and I found myself on a sort of warped, circular battlefield that resembled the roof of the dorm.

"Whoa…" I whistled. "Kinda trippy…"

"Hey, what the hell is this!"

I turned around to see everyone else, Margaret included, in a sort of floating energy bubble thing. Junpei was pounding on the wall of the bubble, likely trying to get out.

"What's going on?" Yukari demanded. "Why are we trapped here?"

"The answer to that question is simple." replied Margaret. "You will be facing strengthened reincarnations of the Arcana Shadows, however you must remember this place is ruled by memories. If you do not recall fighting one of more of these Shadows yourself, you cannot partake in the battle against their new form."

Everyone sort of scowled. I turned around in time to notice a black metal hand grab the edge of the roof. Then about thirty more joined it.

Then what I can only describe as a black-armored, twelve foot tall walking kill bot with two rotating arrangements of eight arms on each of its shoulders and back along with two regular sets of arms and a pair of legs climbed onto the rooftop with a Magician Mask on its face.

"That's Hecaton!"

I looked back at Hamuko. "It's WHAT?"

"Hecaton!" She repeated. "It's one of the summons in Final Fantasy Thirteen!"

"You actually PLAYED that game?" asked Junpei.

"It's fun!" She replied, giving him a pointed look.

"THIS THING ALSO HAS FUCKING YO-YO ROCKET ARMS!" I shouted as I scrambled out of the way of said arms that were suddenly shot at me. "Anything else I should know about it?"

"Yeah, it can transform into a mobile artillery platform and can cause earthquakes!"

"LOVELY." I said in sarcastic English. "Now pardon me while I try to not DIE."

True to that, I was still dodging around stabbing yo-yo punches from the Magician with mahakaja boostage and rapidly getting pissed off. This thing can't possibly be that much more powerful then it was the first time if Ryoji was able to one-shot it to death when he cheated his way out of my head. In fact, the Shadows got stronger as we got higher up the arcana- JUMP THE FUCK OVER THAT -ranking. Which means this guy looks all big and shit, but probably takes hits like a chump. Time to find out!

I mahakaja'd my way around another cluster of yo-yo punches, then channeled a Joker's Wild down my arm and slammed it into the Magician's face. The result was said face being disintegrated and the Shadow evaporating a few moments later.

"Wow, that was anti-climactic…" I commented aloud.

"Impressive." Margaret noted. "Let us see how you handle your next opponent."

Almost immediately, the area morphed into a large, warped version of the inside of the Monorail we fought the Priestess on.

"Alright, time to kick some ass!" Junpei cheered as he suddenly popped up next to me.

"Junpei, this is serious!" snapped Yukari.

"Shut up, Yukari." I grunted. "We've got bigger problems."

Sure enough, the Version Two Arcana Priestess appeared a short distance away from us. Looks basicly the same as before, except smaller and dressed like a shrine maiden. Also carrying a staff.

Well this doesn't seem so bad- OH MY GOD FUCKING ZERG RUSH KILL THEM ALL!

* * *

_"Junpei, there's an opening! KILL IT!"_

"You got it!" he shouted in reply, doing his triple style and lunging at the Priestess. It parried two of the blades with its staff, but the third cut across its chest, which let the other two Junpeis shove it back, then stab it through the head with their swords. Almost instantly after that, the third Junpei stabbed it through the chest, then all three of them violently ripped their blades out of the shadow to finish it off.

"That's how it's done!" He boasted as his duplicates vanished. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how he does that. "Who's next?"

"Empress and Emperor." I told him as the battlefield change again to a warped version of the lobby of Tartarus.

"My turn."

I turned to see Aki had switched places with Yukari and was punching his fists together gleefully. Well, this should be a curbstomp I suppose.

I looked back just in time for the Empress and Emperor to appear. They're still really huge, except now they have more sleek appearances. More like a Queen and King, respectively, decked out in armor and heading into battle.

_"Fuuka, can you still scan these things?"_ I asked over my shoulder as the Empress summoned a large mace to her hands and the Emperor pulled a huge sword out of the ground.

_{I'll try!}_ she replied. _{…I've got it! They don't have any weaknesses, but magic doesn't effect the Empress at all and Physicals won't work on the Emperor!}_

_"Thanks, Fuuka! Aki, Junpei, the Empress is all yours! I'll take care of the Black Knight!"_

"Alright! Let's go, Junpei!"

The two of them charged at the Empress while the Emperor lunged at me. I kaja'd out of the way of his sword swing and flicked an Electric Card into his head, which was far less effective then I was hoping for. Well **GREAT**, these guys traded weaknesses for Resistances! That's going to be a pain in the ass. Especially if they keep up their weakness switchy thing they did before.

Having Aki and Junpei set about pummeling the Empress to death was probably the smartest thing I've done in the last, I dunno, month or so because I frequently spotted magical attacks flying every- _BLOCK, SIDESTEP, THROW FIREBALL_ -which-way in the background as I fended off the Emperor. Compared to the last two, these jerks were a lot more trouble, but seeing as how A, Junpei can create insta-copies- _DODGE, GRAB, THROW, SUMMON TORNADO_ -of himself and B, Akihiko's basicly tied with me(I think) for best non-persona physical skill assisted melee fighter after Shinjiro, the two of them seem to be doing very well against the Empress. Junpei's Spring of Life and Aki's Diarahan along with both having two elemental immunities each probably help a lot.

Me, though? I just resist everything that's not an instant knock, which I'm immune to, out or Almighty. Sure, I could go through the compendium and get all those immunity items for everything else, but where's the fun in that? Plus, ya know, don't ha- _WESKER-FU, STOMP ON SWORD, CLAW IT IN THE FACE AND JUMP_ -ve the time to do that probably. Regardless, this asshole is a lot faster then he looks, and he looks about as fast as you'd expect a fifteen foot tall suit of metal armor to be. Good thing the Joker Claws, on top of the Kohryu Gauntlets, count as Almighty so I can literally punch through this assholes defenses against elemental attacks. Another- _DUCK, ROLL, UPPERCUT_ -blessing is they aren't doing the elemental switch thing this time, so we don't have AS much to contend with. That said, this bastard is still a pain in the ass. And now I feel like killing him in a ridiculously over the top manner just because I can.

I caught the Emperor's blade in my hands, thankful I'm not trying this barehanded, then pulled on it as hard as I could. The sword was wrenched free of the Shadow's Grasp, and I took the stumbling distraction it caused to launch him into the air with a concentrated Tornado Ace. I used Element Card to Wind Boost Jump up after him, flipping the massive blade around to grab the handle mid-jump, then smashed the Emperor back down to the ground with the flat of the blade. Using more Wind Channeling to defy gravity a little longer, I charged up the massive sword before Railgun-tossing it at its owner, spearing him through the head with it. He wasn't quite dead yet, though, so I used more applied wind to propel myself at the hilt of the blade, stomping on it hard enough to completely obliterate the Emperor's head via burying the at least seven foot long blade up to the hilt in the ground. I landed on the ground as the weapon and shadow evaporated and looked over at Junpei and Akihiko, the latter of which was brushing his hands off as the Empress crumpled to the ground in a heap behind him and started evaporating as well.

"You know Roy, I've only got one thing to say about what you just did." Junpei said suddenly, then he threw me a thumbs up. "Fuckin' metal."

I grinned. Good ol' Junpei.

The mini celebration was short lived as Junpei vanished in a quick flash of light, leaving Yukari and Mitsuru in his place as the battlefield morphed to resemble the Hotel Room we fought in back in July. Oh joy. These clowns.

However, the Hierophant, which decided to take the form of freaking Bowser, didn't last long because apparently Hamuko pumped Mitsuru full of Heat Risers while Mitsuru herself channeled Mind Charge. I say that because as soon as it appeared, about fifty bajillion ice spears skewered it from above from just about every damn angle, with at least three through its damn head. Jeez Mitsuru, there's overkill and then there's **_CURBSTOMP_**.

The Hierophant vanished along with the ice, and then a angry shout rang through the air before the ground shook. I looked around to see what the fuck only to spot a pink haired chick with a sort of military combat gear slash ninja suit punching a crater into the ground as Junpei scrambled out of the way.

Wait, isn't that the angry chick the main character of Naruto has a crush on?

_'Probably. That post time skip version if she's punching that hard.'_

Huh. I stopped giving a shit about that show a long time ago. And Shinjiro looks like he never gave a shit to begin with, because that was a rather large spike of stone he just rammed through her neck. And I just spotted an Arcana mask acting as a shoulder pad for its left arm marking it as Lovers Arcana. Must've been the Arcana Lovers Version two. Well, that was easier then I expected.

_'The next ones are going to be satanically evil now, you know.'_

…That's probably true.

The battlefield shuddered violently as it morphed from an enlarged hotel room to the depths of a large cave before the Chariot and Justice appeared.

In the form of Megatron and Optimus Prime respectively.

Yep. Satanically evil.

_'Wanna just bust out Armageddon and Nuke 'em?'_

Nah, saving that for something more obnoxious. Besides, fighting Megatron AND Optimus Prime AT THE SAME TIME? Do I even need to tell you how awesome that is, even if they're really brain eating monsters possessing large amounts of mechanical parts?

_'Nope, now get to work. Megatron is aiming at you.'_

OH** SHIT **MATRIX LASER TANK CANNON DODGE, BARREL ROLL, STRAFE AROUND MACHINEGUN FIRE AND FUCKING HIDE

"Are you alright?"

Oh hey, Aigis is hiding behind these rocks too! Neat!

_"I'm fine, Aigis."_ I replied quickly. _"Largest threat is the one with the tank treads on his shoulders and the ridiculous horns on his helmet. I'll need your help taking out his main gun."_

She nodded firmly. "Alright."

_"Shiny."_ I quickly crushed Azren's card in my hand to have him Mahasukukaja the two of us. _"Let's get to it."_

We darted out from behind the rocks and I suddenly realized I have exactly no plan as to how to actually CRIPPLE these guys. For one, they're almost as big, if not a little bigger, then the Ride Armor the original Arcana Chariot had. For two, there's no telling how much of the arsenal of the respective Transformer each of them are packing, though my guess would be most, if not all. And for three, if they're anything like the Empress and Emperor, they probably have more resistances, a fact that seems to be confirmed by Yukari's arrows snapping harmlessly against the Justice Optimus' frame.

Also, Azren, am I just that fast or does the Chariot Megatron's aim suck?

_'A little of both, now stop talking in your head and do something useful besides outrunning gunfire.'_

…Yeah, I should probably get on that.

I sprinted in the direction of the Chariot, who turned to open fire at me only to be met by Hercules punching him in the head. I took advantage of that and switched to Chi You, channeled a Power Charge, then cut loose with Primal Force. This turned out to be entirely useless, as Chariot Megatron is immune to Piercing attacks. On the flip side, I channeled another power charge then switched to Messiah to use God's Hand which actually caused some damage.

On that note, FUUKA! Need a scan on these two, please!

_{Okay, just give me a sec to scan the targets!}_

No problem, and when you're done, start winding up for an Oracle. Aim for the Chariot with it, too.

_{Alright.}_

Okay, now that that's taken care of, where's Aigis?

"Athena!"

Throwing an Akasha Arts out to knock these two assholes around!

"Persona!" "I won't loose!" **BANG BANG**

Right before Junpei unleashes a Vorpal Blade and Yukari adds in a Magarudyne! Shiny, now it's my turn. Dodge the cannon blast, get behind Chariot Megatron, channel Power Charge from Chi You, nod at Aigis, switch to Messiah and "Let 'em have it!" "I need your help!" two God's Hands right into the main part of the turret and even managing to damage the base of it! Epic.

_{Roy-san, the one you just damaged resists strike and slash physicals and is immune to pierce attacks.}_ Fuuka? _{The other has the same resistances, but also resists electricity.}_

The hell…? Who am I talking to…?

_'That's Juno. And is Fuuka still getting Oracle ready?'_

_{Yes, she is. Sorry if I confused you, Roy-san.}_

Oh, well, it's no big deal. Just a minor 'wait what' sort of thing. Anywho, if you haven't already, pass on the scan info to the others, please.

_{I will.}_

Alright, cool. Now then, back to paying more attention to the fight. I crushed Azren's card in my hand to summon him for a quick Mediarahan on everyone just before Aki and Shinji pulled off the first Fusion Spell thing I've seen 'em do since Shinjiro came back. The two Personae grabbed hold of the globe Caesar carried, then stabbed it with their swords, causing huge magnetically summoned spikes of METAL to shoot out of the ground and impale the Justice Optimus in the lower chest before they electrocuted him. And it was awesome.

_{Oracle is ready! Everyone, please get away from the Chariot!}_

"You heard the lady, BACK THE FUCK UP PEOPLE!" I bellowed, turning tail and booking it over to some rocks with Mitsuru and Junpei hot on my heels.

_{Deploying Oracle!}_

I dove behind the rocks with my best friend and my senpai just as the very familiar pillar of all-consuming laser death struck the Chariot. There was an explosion, a sort of energy humming noise, and a distorted roar for a few seconds before it all went silent, save for the sound of a few very large hunks of metal hitting the ground. I peeked over the cover and the Chariot was now a smoldering crater. The large hunks of metal that hit the ground were, in fact, its arms and part of the cannon that basicly amounted to all that was left of the damn thing.

**=Arcana Chariot has been destroyed=** stated the Justice Optimus, drawing our attention to it as it smashed the metal spears and ripped them out of itself. **=Activating Super Mode=**

Oh you have got to be kidding me. IT HAS THE FREAKING SUPER MODE?

On cue, a truck trailer fucking plowed through a wall out of nowhere and transformed into a huge set of legs while the Justice Optimus became the upper body and connected to it, then struck a pose. It also seems that the arcana mask replaced the Autobot insignia on it. Then he pulled out his fucking cannon and several other cannons popped up on his body.

Wait, SHIT! MAXIMUM BLAST! SWITCH TO VISHNU!

**=FIRING=**

* * *

_"MOTHERFUCKER JUST PISSED ME OFF."_

"HOW ARE WE NOT DEAD?"

_"Infinity."_ I clarified for Junpei as the dust began settling. _"It basicly amounts to a somewhat short-term complete invulnerability thing. It's a fusion spell thing. That aside, I AM GOING TO FUCK THIS BITCH UP."_

"Fortune, calm down!"

_"Can do."_ I replied evenly, cracking my knuckles. I flexed my left hand a few times and noticed the joker state claw on it was different. The armored bits were black and the parts under it were red. The hell?

_'I'll fill you in on that later.'_

Works for me.

"Roy, chill out man! Seriously, we don't need you going psycho on us again!"

_"I'm not."_

I vanished from my previous position and found myself staring right at the head of the Super Mode Justice Optimus. The Shadow was clearly surprised, but I couldn't give less of a fuck as I rammed both my hands into its eyes. Quick switch to Chi You for a Power Charge, then to Messiah to fire off a God's Hand inside this bastard's head with a quickly following Megidolaon. The end result was most of the Shadow's head being completely obliterated as I ripped my hands back out of its eye sockets. The mechanical body shuddered and began to tumble, and I merely Mahakaja'd my way back down to the ground to watch it fall and dissipate into nothingness.

"Whoa…" I heard Shinjiro whistle from behind me. "Talk about brutal…"

"Fortune, stand down!"

_"The hell is up with you people?"_ I asked curiously, turning around. _"I'm fine."_

"No, you're not." Akihiko all but growled. "Not with that look."

Eyebrow. What look…? Wait, Azren, how much of me turned red?

_'The left half of your body. Your hair's glowing grey along with your eyes and mouth now, too.'_

_"What's the big deal? So I'm half red right now, it's not a bad thing."_

"Roy, the last time you looked like that, you beat Ryoji like a redheaded step child!"

_"I did what now?"_ I though for a second. _"And Junpei, where did you even LEARN that expression?"_

"Just take it easy, Roy!" Yukari pleaded before Junpei could answer me. "You're not-"

I glared at her. "Yukari, shut up. I'm fine. I think this is Azren's fault. I'm sure I'll get an accurate explanation of what this is later."

On that note, a card appeared in my hand. The hell…? Megidolaon. Wait, this is from Messiah! Oh, HELL YES. Totally giving this to Fuuka later.

I tucked the card into my pocket just as the battlefield warped into a representation of the parking lot of Paulownia Mall, complete with a giant stage. This one was different, though. For one, it was more gothic and there was a bunch of candles. For two, it was not Arcana Hermit Rise Kujikawa on stage. It was some chick in a black dress with red hair… and green skin.

_"Oh goody, we get to fight Nevan!"_ I proclaimed sarcastically as I switched to Satan. _"Hahaha- NO!"_

On cue as the Hermit Nevan turned around, revealing a hermit mask on a pendant around her neck, I summoned the cards for Satan and Helel into my hands and crushed them. The Shadow didn't even get the chance to start screaming before the Armageddon tore it apart. If the difficulty was above hard in DMC3, that boss drove me crazy. The lightning guitar was totally worth it, though.

The battlefield warped again, this time turning into a larger version of the area Me and Aigis fought the Fortune and Strength… in…

Okay, why am I staring at Kefka and Albert Wesker?

**"Greetings, worms."**

Oh you have got to be kidding me. The Fortune turned into one of the most famous evil clowns ever and the Strength turned into MY UNCLE? Fan-fucking-tastic. Imma chug a Soma now.

_"Aigis, you're going up against the clown."_ Toss empty Soma bottle over my shoulder and not give a fuck. _"I'll handle Wesker."_

"I understand."

_"Shiny. Just be careful."_ A split second later and I was already in a full on punch-up brawl with Strength Wesker.

**"Seven minutes. Seven minutes is all I can spare to play with you."** stated the Shadow evenly as we traded blows.

_"Oh god, you're going to be throwing out quotes?"_ I complained as I blocked a punch then countered with an elbow smash to his face. _"Because I don't want to listen to you throwing out quotes."_

**"Are you TRYING to make me angry?"**

_"No, but YOU-"_ I grabbed the Shadow Wesker by the face. _"-are making ME angry!"_ I smashed his head against the ground repeatedly until he kicked me away and stood up, discarding his damaged sunglasses and pulling a new pair from his jacket.

Once I was back on my feet, Arcana Wesker surged towards me and I ended up blocking mostly as he sort of pinballed around me before he suddenly leapt into the air and- HOLY SHIT WHERE DID HE GET A CRUISE MISSILE!

I kaja'd out of the way and caught a glimpse of Aigis brawling it out with the Arcana Kefka. She actually seemed to be doing well, despite Kefka throwing magic every which way. That aside, Wesker was approaching me through the smoke caused by the spontaneous missile he tried to throw at me.

**"Only a handful of humans truly matter."** He said. **"The rest are just so much chaff."**

_"Oh, shut up."_ I snarled.

**"I THINK NOT!"** and once again I find myself exchanging super speed blows with him like something out of Dragonball Z. This is getting to be a pain, really quickly. I threw a straight punch into his face and felt his shades break under my hand, then he pushed me back, the discarded them and put on a new set. **"You're merely postponing the inevitable!"**

I hate you so much right now, you don't even KNOW. In fact, fuck it. Imma stomp this bitch. Grab his arm, twist it behind him, headlock, apply a little pressure, then trip his ass and drive him into the ground only to get thrown at one of the barrier wall things somehow. GREAT.

**"Pathetic."** Taunted the Shadow as we both got back up. His glasses were trashed again, so he pulled them off and threw them away before getting another fresh pair from his jacket.

God damn, does he like have infinite sunglasses or something? Because if he does, that's hilarious. I'm still gonna kill this motherfucker, but it's hilarious.

**"THE END DRAWS NIGH!"**

I caught Wesker by the hand when he tried to punch me, then rammed my knee into his chest before punching him in the side and grabbing one of his arms. I used quick wind channeling to get myself hand standing on his shoulders, then forced him to the ground.

**"NO! THIS CAN'T BE-"** _**SPLURTCH**_

That was the sound of me Goomba Stomping Arcana Strength Wesker's head into the ground hard enough to make it explode. And on that note; _"Ewww, now there's evil genius brains all over my boots…"_

"Roy-san! I need your help!"

Oh crap that's right Aigis is still fighting Kefka!

I spun around and fired off a Tornado Ace before I could really process the situation, but it seemed to help as the entire brunt of the chaotic storm plowed right into the evil clown and launched him into one of the walls.

Wait a second, I didn't even really have to think about that! I just did it! What the hell?

_'Explain later!'_

Alright, FINE.

I quickly darted over to Aigis to check on her. A little scuffed up, but looks like the armor stuff Liz handed over worked like a charm to cover most of the damage. _"You okay?"_

"Been better." she replied. "I'm running low on Spiritual Power."

_"Use this then, looks like the Shadow's getting back up."_ I said as I handed her a Precious Egg. It's this weird little egg-shaped thing roughly the size of a Cadbury cream egg, except completely made of some sort of magical SP restoring stuff that tastes kind of like black cherry Jell-o and hops you up with more energy then a ten year old on pixy sticks. I have to keep myself from eating the damn things because they're hard to come by, which is made difficult because they're fucking **_DELICIOUS._**

Fortune Kefka decided to draw our attention by doing that evil laugh of his, to which I responded by switching to Chi You and throwing a Pralaya at him. He didn't seem to like that very much, but I had Satan throw a Black Viper into his face to keep him from bitching aloud about it. I think he got the message, because he then decided to start throwing Dynes every which way. All elements, too.

I mostly stuck to providing support for Aigis while she unloaded on him with her Persona, mainly keeping her stamina up. Bad thing about 'sona Physical attacks is they run off your actual physical stamina, so you get worn down by attacks quicker. Mediarahan fixes that pretty well, but I should really look into doing something to fix that for Aigis, Junpei, and Hamuko. I think they've all hit the same ability level as me, so their SP reserves are pretty much excessive as hell, but taking hits is still a major concern. Anywho, after about ten minutes of dodging and Aigis spraying Matarukaja machinegun fire everywhere with me occasionally chiming in with a punch to the face and/or Element Cards, we finally managed to kill the Version Two Arcana Fortune. And by 'we' I mean 'Aigis' and by 'kill' I mean 'she had me knock him over long enough for her to disintegrate his face with bullets'. And it was awesome.

Once they were dead, most of SEES appeared on the battlefield, which warped into a giant platform type thing in a giant area with what resembled the view from the middle of the Moonlight Bridge as a backdrop far away from us. A curious peek over the edge revealed the platform is actually a giant pillar and we're surrounded by an ocean of blood. Quick head count told me we're only short Shinji, Fuuka, and Chidori on the direct field of battle.

"You've done well to get this far." Margaret noted from within the bubble, which floated kind of in the air above us. "I hope this next challenge does not intimidate you."

"Bring it on!" boasted Akihiko. "We can take anything you can throw at us!"

At that, a loud roar caused us all to turn around. Rising from the Ocean of blood surrounding the huge pillar we're standing on was none other then the Arcana Hanged Man version two.

And it took the form of Godzilla. I'm not even joking.

_"You see Junpei, this is why being Japanese is cooler then being American."_ I commented over my shoulder. _"In America, you don't get to fight GODZILLA!"_

"Guess you've got a point there." He said, probably grinnin' like a psycho. "This'll be so freaking awesome."

_"Just try not to get smushed while we're killing this guy."_ I glanced at the others. _"That goes for you guys, too."_

I heard several replies as I returned my focus to the Hangedzilla. It was stomping towards us kinda slowly. Just to guess, I'd say we'd be coming up to about the mid-torso of that thing when it actually gets close enough to start trying to smash us. Wonder where the Arcana Mask is… probably on the back of the head or at the base of one of its back spike things, knowing my luck.

The Hanged Man let out another roar once it was next to the pillar, and a rapid succession of gunshots rang out alongside a lone howl. The Ziodynes of Kala Nemi and Caesar were the first attacks to hit home, followed quickly by Cerberus' Agidyne and Isis' Garudyne. Trismegistos struck with a Brave Blade as Athena launched a God's Hand, the two attacks striking at the same time as the dual Bufudynes of Artemisia and Hebe. Not being one to be left out, I fired a Joker's Wild as a follow up.

The overall effect on the Shadow? Hardly anything. I don't think all of that even singed the bastard's scaly hide.

It roared once again, then attempted to smash the lot of us with one of its hands. We barreled out of the way as fast as possible, though the impact of a giant lizard claw shook the pillar and had us all staggering around a little bit. Koromaru and Ken were the first ones to start counterattacking as rapidly as possible, their Personae unleashing a stream of hellfire and lightning respectively. Junpei was next to get back into things and started lobbing Agidyne firebombs at the Hangedzilla. The Shadow didn't take kindly to that and started working to smash us all repeatedly, leading to all of us dodging around giant scaly arms and throwing whatever we possibly could at the damn thing.

That went on for about five minutes before I got fed up with it and switched to Helel, summoning his card and Satan's into my hands before unleashing a concentrated beam of Armageddon right at the Hangedzilla's face.

He ate the attack.

I don't mean that like it did nothing to him, I MEAN HE LITERALLY FUCKING ATE THE ARMAGEDDON.

_"OH THAT IS SO MUCH BULLSHIT!"_ I protested loudly. _"HOW DID IT EAT THAT?"_

Before I could get an answer, the Hanged Man's eyes started glowing and all-to-familiar sparks of energy seeped out from between its teeth.

OH SHIT IT'S GONNA BARF THAT BACK AT US INFINITY GO

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**

* * *

"I hate this thing forever." snarled Junpei once the blast died down. "No, seriously. I hate it."

_"My thoughts exactly."_ I agreed. _"Anybody got a plan? It almost killed us with my last one."_

"No, but I think it's about to attack again!"

I looked and SHIT Akihiko's right, the damn thing is gearing up for laser doom breath! I smashed another Infinity gem to protect us just as the Hangedzilla launched the attack. The blast harmlessly impacted us, but it tore up the ground more then it already was so the terrain is more hazardous.

"How are we supposed to beat this thing?" asked Hamuko before she summoned Hebe to use Primal Force. "It's just shrugging off whatever we throw at it!"

**WHAM**

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting out of this!" we heard Shinjiro bark before another loud 'WHAM' echoed. I turned to look and Shinjiro was smashing against the side of the bubble thing with the Corpse Rod while Chidori was doing… something to another part of it.

"It's impossible." Margaret stated evenly. "Just stop and save your-"

"Fuuka, now!"

Shinjiro's weapon impacted the side of the bubble again just as a Megido Oracle blasted it from THE INSIDE. The bubble shattered, leaving Shinjiro, Chidori, and Fuuka plummeting to the ground while Margaret just kinda stood in mid-air.

"Fuuka!" "CHIDORI!" **BANG**

Trismegistos surged forth and caught Chidori as Azren caught Fuuka. Shinjiro merely hit the ground and caused a shallow crater when he landed like a boss. The two Personae set the girls down and Fuuka wasted no time resummoning Juno while Chidori just kind of brushed herself off.

How did they even get out of that thing, anyways?

_{Chidori used Debilitate on the barrier. A lot.}_

Oh. Thanks for clarifying, Fuuka.

_{You're welcome, Ro- WATCH OUT!}_

I kaja'd out of the way before Hangedzilla flattened me with his giant hand and had Asura launch a Ragnarok at him. Like basicly everything else, it didn't do much except mildly annoy the giant Shadow. I switched to Skadi to maybe try and freeze the hell out of him when the Shadow roared angrily. I spotted Junpei with his Katana stabbed into the massive lizard's hand and holding on for dear life as it tried to shake him off.

"Junpei!"

"I GOT IT!" He shouted back as he lurched through the air. "NO PROBLEM!"

"You lunatic, get off of that thing!"

"I WOULD, BUT MY SWORD'S STUCK AND I'M KINDA HIGH IN THE AIR, YUKA-TAN!"

"Just hold on, Junpei! We'll get you down! Mitsuru, give me a hand!"

"I summon thee!" **BANG**

_"It's not enough!"_ I shouted as Ice formed on part of the Shadow. _"Hamuko, let's back them up!"_

"Persona!" **BANG**

The combined ice attacks from Skadi, Hebe, and Artemisia worked to freeze the Shadow's body to the pillar before the three of us froze the arm Junpei was stuck to enough for Hercules to get up and pull his sword loose, then drop him into a wind net made by Yukari.

"Whew! Thanks for that, guys!" Junpei said with a tired sigh once he was on the ground. "Better not try somethin' like that again…"

I think Ken said something, but it was drowned out by the Shadow roaring in pain as Shinjiro launched huge rock spikes into its torso. It fired its laser breath again, and I barely had time to shield everyone with another Infinity. However, the moment I could see again I got blindsided by a giant scaly hand and knocked clear across the top of the platform along with Hamuko, Aki, Koro, Shinji, and Mitsuru. The six of us staggered back up in time to see the Hangedzilla break out of the ice just as Trismegistos hit it with Vorpal Blade. It roared in anger, then- OH SHIT IT'S GOING TO EAT JUNPEI!

"LOOK OUT!"

Chidori blindsided Junpei and knocked him to the ground just before the massive jaws closed around her instead of him. He looked on with abject horror as part of the chain from her axe hung out from between two of the Shadow's teeth.

That thing just crossed the fucking line. If Junpei doesn't obliterate it, then I'm going to- Why is fire seeping out between its teeth?

The large Shadow swayed back and forth, shaking its head in confusion before the fire started intensifying until-

_FWA_-**BOOOOOOOOOOOM**

-Chidori exploded her way out of its head with a massive beam of searing flames. She quickly summoned Thea again, and the Persona caught her and brought her back down to the platform as the headless Godzilla Hanged Man fell backwards into the ocean of blood.

I whistled as Junpei practically tackled Chidori.

"Chidori-san, how did you do that?" asked Aigis.

"The Shadow's mask was inside its mouth. I destroyed it."

We all just sort of looked at her in surprise for a few seconds, then a few of us shrugged.

_"Well, whatever."_ I sighed, then looked over at Margaret as she approached. _"So that's all of 'em right? Did we pass your test or whatever the hell this was?"_

"Indeed you have." she replied evenly, her lips curling into a sly smirk as we reappeared at the place the door we went into to start the Arcana Shadow Round Two brawl was. "I've been waiting for this. You are a human worthy of me. Now, come. Let's have some fun…"

I reflexively took a step backwards and gave Margaret a wary look. _"Are you coming onto me?"_

She seemed confused for a moment, then blushed lightly. "Oh, I apologize. I merely wished to challenge you myself."

_"Oh, well, that's cool."_ I replied with a tired sigh. _"But perhaps later. I'm worn out right now."_

"I understand." said Margaret with a nod. "I will await your return."

I yawned, got out of the joker state, and turned towards the big blue set of doors behind us. "Yeah, cool. I'm going to bed." I started trudging out of the Vision Quest hall. "Let's go, people."

* * *

Author Notes - SO YEAH. Roy's Vision quest was a TEENY bit different from the Game Version(it was a straight-up Boss Rush compared to a pick and choose thing). And Roy's got the Split Joker state from the Bridge Brawl with Ryoji again! I'll explain that soon... I hope. Trying to work exposition into dialog is kind of a pain sometimes. And I again apologize for the long delay on this chapter compared to others, it was difficult for me to come up with stuff at times. I actually had to switch over to SEES interrupting the Reapnatos fight from just Roy brawling with him due to my mind not wanting to properly think of stuff for Roy's solo fight. That aside, next chapter will have the Vision Quest Margaret fight in it, then things will mostly calm down until the Nyx fight in Chapter 54. Then there's the post-Nyx stuff in chapter 55 and AFNF will officially be done! Hope you're all looking forward to the next few chapters, and I'll try to not take so long to finish them.


	53. One Step Closer

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Lunatsu13** - Of course Railguns beat everything. They're fucking Railguns.

**Overlord Duelist** - Well if that's the case then clearly we must load golf clubs into railguns in the future for increased destructive awesome!

**TiFu** - It's spelled Emperor. And if you liked Fuuka's insane nuking powers before, just wait till you see what happens to Nyx.

**keyweildinglegend** - Glad you like Norimoto Style. I'm honestly getting impatient with myself to finish up AFNF and AOA so I can start writing it. XD

**Despair's Cold Edge** - I'm sorry about that(and possibly how long this chapter took). Really, I don't have a lot left to work with in the story but thankfully I have the next two chapters planned out in my head a little, so HOPEFULLY those will be easier(Very likely since chapter 54 is mostly going to be KICKING NYX'S BITCH ASS)

**eggmiester** - Okay, I'm going to dispell your fears about Norimoto Style: My dislike of Yosuke is meant to be played for laughs. He does a lot of jerkish things in P4, and I'd rather like to see him suffer in a humorous fasion. As for Yukari, though... I don't even know. But if you're talking specificly about the previous chapter's interaction between Roy and Yukari, then you really need to chill. That was meant to be taken as Roy trying to, rather bluntly, get her to sort out her issues in case they all DIE HORRIBLY. And Roy doesn't even complain about Yukari unless she's actively doing something stupid, so I kind of don't get what your problem is.

And now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

* * *

So we all left Tartarus and went back home to get some sleep, and I made sure to give Fuuka a copy of the Megidolaon card on the trip back.

In the morning, though, I was moderately nervous as I was walkin' to school with Aigis, Junpei, and Chidori. The amount of Nyx cult posters practically doubled from yesterday, and I think they had additional writing on them but I wasn't paying much attention to what they actually said.

School was predictably dull, and I yawned right after class was out. Good lord, I'm still amazed this stuff even makes me bored.

"Ah man, again?"

I turned my head to see Kenji looking at his cell phone with a disgruntled expression.

"What's the matter?" asked Junpei, turning around in his seat.

"You know that cult thing going around town?" he asked. Junpei nodded. "I've got a friend who got into that stuff and he keeps sending me these stupid-ass messages!" Kenji leaned forward to show Junpei his phone. "Like this one, where it just says 'Nyx-sama' over and over, from beginning to end." He sighed and slumped back in his seat, semi glaring at the screen on his cell. "I've gotta figure out how to block his messages…"

"Well don't take too long figurin' it out, or you'll be late for your date with Rio."

Kenji's head snapped in my direction. "How did you…?"

I grinned. "You just told me, duh."

Junpei snickered as Kenji opened his mouth to retort, only to thing better of it and sigh in defeat. I just kept grinning. I like being evil sometimes.

* * *

Nothing of note happened at the dorm that night, as we just stayed in to relax. The next day was likewise uneventful, at least until me, Aigis, and Fuuka were leaving school. We heard someone shouting and stopped to investigate.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Hey, that's Ms. Toriumi! "You kids should know better then to be spraying graffiti!"

"Mind your own business, lady." someone else grunted. I don't like that tone. I motioned for Aigis and Fuuka to follow me and stay quiet, and we rounded the corner of a building to see Ms. Toriumi in a glaring contest with about six punks… Oh what the hell, it's those dudes from June again! Why do I keep running into them? Aren't there any other punks in this town?

_'No clue, bu- That's a knife.'_

THAT IT IS. "HEY, the hell do you people think you're gonna do to my homeroom teacher?"

Ms. Toriumi spun around to see me just sort of glaring at the thugs, who were in turn surprised to see me.

"You again?" Snarled that all-too-familiar punk who I'm pretty sure I beat up less than a week ago. Devil Arcana. Huh, must be reversed if he's not learning from the previous times we've met.

"Yeah, this is what, twice within the same span of a week or whatever?" I asked.

"Shut your mouth, jackass!" Devil barked, pointing at me with his knife.

I sighed. "Toriumi-sensei, you might wanna get out of the way." I turned and held out my school bag to Aigis. "Hold this, please."

She nodded and silently took it from me.

"Thankies." I muttered as I turned back around. Ms. Toriumi had backed up and was closer to me, and so were the punks. My teacher turned quicker and scurried past me, likely standing near Aigis and Fuuka.

"You're outnumbered this time, prick." Grinned Devil. "BOYS!"

On cue, several more dudes came out from a nearby alley. Six total, all carrying improvised weapons. Oh goody, he's got CRONIES this time.

"Hehehe, not so tough now, huh?" Devil's grin widened. "The Prophet warned us about you. Never expected you'd be the one to oppose Nyx-sama."

Oh DOUBLE GOODY, this prick is a NYXIST and he's been chatting it up with Takaya! "Good for you. Now why don't you just go before things get violent?"

"Hell no, you're not getting out of here alive!" He barked angrily. "GET HIM!"

I caught the first dude to charge at me, tripped him, then threw him at two of his buddies. The next couple of guys forced me to block a bit, but I countered and laid them out with a couple punches. Two of the guys with improv weapons came at me with a third unarmed buddy. One was swinging a chain, the other had a bat. Said bat was quickly wrenched from the asshole's grip and used to smash the chain guy in the stomach as I elbowed the fisticuffs dude in the face and kicked the bat's owner in the leg. Chains staggered back with Brawly, while Bats slumped to one knee until I kneed him in the head to knock him out. Brawly got in my face and decked me good, but I bounced back and threw the bat into Chains' head to put his lights out before I drove my knee into Brawly's chest then head butted him to the ground.

"Roy-kun!"

I whirled around and son of a bitch, the other assholes and the Devil guy decided to hold Fuuka, Aigis, and Ms. Toriumi hostage. WELL fuck.

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong." grunted the Devil guy as he stood on one side of Aigis holding her arm while another guy held onto Aigis' right. He then flicked out his knife and held it to her neck. "But if you don't want your little friends here to get hurt, you'll just stay put while I knock you down a few pegs."

"Problem with that plan." I said dryly as I noticed how perturbed Aigis looked. "She's likely going to beat the shit out of you now."

"Huh-" Devil didn't get to finish before Aigis wrenched her hands free and punched him right in the face. The other guy went to move, but there was a scream an- Holy shit did FUUKA just BITCHSLAP THAT GUY UNCONSCIOUS?

"What in the- Hey, what're you d-" **SMACK**

Damn. Fuuka two, thug pricks zero.

**WHAM**

My head snapped over to see Ms. Toriumi standing back up after I'm pretty sure she judo-threw the dude who was grabbing her over her shoulder.

"God damn it!" spat the Devil guy as he rubbed his face where Aigis punched him. "I'll kill all of you!"

Before I could move, Aigis had punched him again and sent him staggering towards Fuuka, who in turn stomped on his foot hard enough to apparently break something because I think I heard bones snapping. The guy howled in pain and hopped on one foot, allowing me to see that Fuuka's stomp also cracked the pavement a little. Not to be left out apparently, Toriumi punched him repeatedly, then fucking spin kicked him in the head to knock him out.

"And that's for pulling a knife on a pretty lady!" She huffed, dusting off her hands.

I gave a low whistle. "Damn, sensei. I didn't know you could do that."

Ms. Toriumi just sort of shrugged. "I have a black belt."

I blinked. "In what? Tae Kwon Do?"

"How'd you tell?"

"Complete stab in the dark, actually. You okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I've had worse. Akihiko-senpai likes to use me as a punching bag sometimes." Not really, but it's a plausible excuse.

"I see… Well, thank you for your help." Ms. Toriumi said, bowing slightly before warily glancing at the twelve unconscious guys on the ground around us.

"Oh, um, don't worry sensei." Fuuka piped up. "We'll call the authorities."

"Already on it." I stated with my phone up to my ear. "This'll certainly be an interesting story to tell…"

* * *

Lucky for us it was Kurosawa who showed with a few other officers. We explained everything and claimed self defense(totally true), and the thugs got carted off in a few cop cars. Parted ways with Ms. Toriumi, then I made sure to give Fuuka props for bringing down two guys who were almost a foot and a half taller then her with a single hit each. I think it's testament to how powerful everyone in SEES now if our non-combatant Mission Control member can bitchslap dudes unconscious without any sort of direct fighting experience. Even Aigis thought that was cool.

Once we got back to the dorm though, I had serious-ish business to discuss with everyone.

"OKAY." I began, clapping my hands together. "Tonight is going to be our last trip to Tartarus before we fight Nyx. Why? We're going to go fight Margaret."

Everyone sort of looked at each other, then back at me.

"Why?" Ken asked with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't she say she wanted to fight you, Roy-san?"

I shrugged. "I honestly don't give a damn at this point. We've got four days till Nyx comes, and she's basicly the only thing we can fight that probably won't amount to much more then a damn speed bump in our path. And besides…" I grinned. "Margaret didn't specifically say I couldn't bring you guys with me."

* * *

So the lot of us packed our crap and headed to Tartarus, then into the Vision Quest door thing.

_"Yo Margaret."_ I called out, activating the Joker State. _"We're ready to go."_

"So it would seem." Margaret noted casually as she floated in the air, looking through what looks like the compendium Elizabeth has. She flicked it closed and looked in my direction. "Are you prepared to show me the full extent of your power?"

Oh ho~? _"Full extent? As in, the biggest stuff we can throw at you?"_

Margaret curiously raised an eyebrow and gave me a wary look. "Yes… why?"

_"Oh, nothing."_ I cracked my neck. _"Let's just go ahead and get this started."_

In an instant, I'd closed the gap and smashed my right hand into the left side of her face. I followed up quickly by swinging my elbow back to hit the other side of her head, then grabbed her head with my left hand and slammed her into the ground before throwing her back to her feet. I surged forward again and rammed my knee into her stomach, then kicked my leg out to send her staggering backwards into a Tornado Ace that blasted her into the air. I quickly threw four Element Cards, each a different element, at her and all struck home as she sailed over the battlefield. I yanked my hand back, pulling Margaret towards me with wind manipulation before I punched her with a Joker's Wild blasting through my hand.

_"JUNPEI, GO FOR IT!"_ I barked. He didn't waste any time springing into action with his Rule of Three.

Margaret barely managed to stagger upright before all three Junpeis were in range to start hacking away. She tried to parry or dodge the attacks, but getting attacked from three angles by dudes who all look the same was probably throwing her off. I couldn't tell if the swords were actually hurting Margaret, mainly because I wasn't seeing any visible damage but eventually the three Junpeis went back to being one just before he evoked Trismegistos to near literally kick Margaret in the face with a Brave Blade.

Without a spoken word, Chidori fired a three-colored black beam at the Velvet Sibling before she charged in to attack. Considering how much slower Margaret was reacting to Chidori's flurry of axe slashes then she was to the Junpei Barrage, that beam was likely Debilitate in laser form. How are they coming up with some of these ideas for skills?

_'Us Personas, probably. People don't normally think clearly at the front of focus. Their subconscious, which means their repressed self, does.'_

So basicly Personas are not only the subconscious given a voice, but common sense?

_'To put it simply, yeah.'_

Oh damn, Margaret's kinda doomed by that logic. The Agidyne lasers Chidori is spamming are adding credit to that.

Chidori kept up the barrage of fire lasers while Margaret tried to dodge most of them, only for Chidori to launch a larger fireball at her and stun Margaret for a moment.

Akihiko shot forward with his -nda skills flowing through his hands as he started rapidly punching Margaret. In addition to a barrage of Persona-enhanced Boxing Champ punches were occasional Ziodyne-boosted strikes, further crippling Liz's older sister. Finally Aki slugged her full on with his left hand, sending her bouncing along the ground. "Mitsuru!"

Without missing a beat, my Senpai sprang into action, and ran in to slash away at Margaret while Aki backed off a little. Between her fencing slashes, Spikes of ice burst into existence, further making the Velvet Sibling's day suck as she tried to dance around the attacks with little success. There was just too much coming at her all at once from so many angles. Mitsuru, apparently having had her fill of dishing out an asskicking, Spartan kicked Margaret backwards before quickly evoking Artemisia for a Charged Bufudyne, which actually managed to freeze Margaret in place.

"Takeba!"

On cue, one of Yukari's now-trademark tornado arrows slammed into the partly frozen woman, setting her free but at the same time leaving her with an arrow lodged in her shoulder. Within seconds, Yukari was launching arrows like a damn machine gun, and only a fraction of them were actual, physical arrows while the rest were made out of Garu energies. The barrage let up for a moment before Yukari's evoker fired and Isis appeared to unleash a direct Garudyne, likely with the intention to sending Margaret into the air by force because the fact it did just that.

Another shot rang out and Kala-Nemi stormed forward with Ken standing on the Persona's shoulder as it smashed Margaret into the ground with a Primal Force channeled through its own hand. It punched several more times, using Ziodynes instead before it grabbed her and threw her back closer to the rest of us.

Shinjiro was next to get in on the violence, summoning Hercules as he sprinted towards Margaret as she staggered back to her feet. His Persona got to her first, and brutally punched her in the jaw before vanishing just as Shinjiro swung his weapon at her head as well, launching her across the battlefield and sliding to a stop. Not wasting time, he slammed his foot down and a flat-tipped spire burst from the ground and launched Margaret back towards him.

"Hercules!" **BANG**

His Persona appeared and pointed his blade at Margaret, causing a small cloud to appear before a gold hand shot out of it and sent her hurtling to the ground.

Margaret pushed herself upwards only to be blindsided by a serpentine dragon of ice thrown at her by Hamuko, who was a few steps behind it as it shattered and started attacking with her naginata. Watching Hamuko fight Margaret was almost like watching Chidori's short scrap with the blonde, mainly because in both cases the SEES member was attacking faster then the Velvet Sibling could keep up with. Gotta be heavily applied Heat Riser, because DAMN, she's really moving. Lady of War if I ever saw one, that's fer sure. Hamuko pressed her attack for a few moments longer before blasting Margaret with a point blank Primal Force and backing off a little.

Seizing the chance, Koromaru leapt at the Velvet Sibling with a howl. Cerberus appeared in a burst of mist and unleashed hellfire as Koro himself slashed at Margaret's right arm. She must not have been expecting a double team, because the attacks struck home and HARD. She was then forced to try dancing around repeated attacks from Koro and Cerberus, only to be hit by the one she wasn't trying most actively to dodge. Cerberus vanished mid attack, perplexing Margaret for a moment before Koro, wreathed in flames, tackled her from behind, knocking her to the ground before he leapt away.

It didn't take more then a split second after Koromaru was out of the line of fire before Aigis cut loose. Rather then a pair of Tarukaja gatling guns, she went for a couple of straight-up Tarukaja LASER CANNONS to back up her finger guns. The beams slammed into Margaret propelling her into the air for a moment before she landed. Aigis kept up her attack as Margaret tried to dodge the hail of bullets and energy blasts.

"Persona!"

Athena appeared and let loose an Akasha Arts across the battlefield, knocking Margaret down.

_"Aigis, Activate Orgia Mode!"_ I shouted.

"Understood!"

I sprinted at Margaret again alongside Aigis, who was glowing gold. The Velvet Sibling barely had time to register we were a millisecond from punching her in the face before our fists both impacted. She didn't stagger because the two of us rapidly attacked from all angles at blinding speed until I sent a Tornado Ace through my arm and uppercutted Margaret with it. I backed off just as Athena burst into existence and used God's Hand to drive the blonde woman into the ground.

Aigis stopped glowing and panted heavily, a small amount of steam seeping from her earphones. Orgia Mode always made her overheat a little, even if it's only used in short bursts like just now.

Margaret coughed a few times and staggered up and out of the shallow crater she was in.

"That…" she said between a few coughs as she glared at us. "Was against the rules…"

_"What the fuck are you on about?"_

"You shall be severely punished!" She growled as her tome floated infront of her, a Persona card spinning above the pages.

The book snapped shut violently and the Persona Pixie appeared and held out its hands, then the world turned to light.

* * *

_"FUCK. THAT. NOISE."_

I'm beyond angry right now. I'm fairly certain my face is contorted in more rage then the Incredible Hulk.

"But… how did…?"

_"FUCK YOUR RULES."_ I barked. _"YOU NEVER SAID THERE WERE ANY TO BEGIN WITH, SO IT'S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT."_

"Holy crap, Roy, calm down!"

_"FUCK NO. THIS BITCH TRIED TO KILL US FOR BREAKING A RULE WE DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED."_ I cracked my knuckles. _"So I'm going to return the favor. Because, you see Margaret, by doing that, you broke one of MY Rules."_

I appeared infront of her in an instant with my left hand wrapped around her throat.

_"YOU."_ I punched her in the face. _"DO NOT."_ I kneed her in the stomach. _"TRY TO KILL."_ I smashed her into the ground. _"MY FRIENDS."_ I punched her again, then kicked her out of the indent she made in the ground.

I unleashed a wall of scything winds at her as she attempted to stand, followed quickly by a barrage of elemental cards which in turn was followed by a beam of black and red energy; Joker's Wild. I switched Personae rapidly, firing off the most powerful skills at my disposal. Ragnarok. Niflheim. Thunder Reign. Panta Rhei. Black Viper. Morning Star. Pralaya. I finally settled back to Azren Telos and used wind channeling to raise Margaret into the air slightly. She was beaten and bruised, but I wasn't done yet. I yanked my arm back and she flew in my direction. I crushed a black gem in my palm and channeled the all-destroying power of Armageddon into my right hand. Once Margaret was within striking distance, I punched, and the world again turned to light.

* * *

I panted heavily as the smoke and dust settled. That was a lot of anger right there.

"I-Incredible…" Margaret stammered as she struggled to her feet. "I've… never seen such power…"

_"Good for you."_ I snarled. I turned towards the door. _"I'm leaving."_

"Wait!"

_"No. I'm done here. C'mon guys, we're going home."_

* * *

I flexed my hand as we all headed back to the dorm.

Start explaining, Azren. What the hell is up with that two-tone joker state?

_'You're syncing up with me.'_

…Come again?

_'You're literally combining with me. Sorta like channeling, except you're channeling the entire Persona instead of just the skills.'_

…So basicly having that Split State is me going Full Synchro like in the last three Megaman Battle Network games?

_'In layman's terms, yeah.'_

So, how do I trigger it on purpose? Clear my mind or whatever?

_'Not really, actually. See, it's been getting easier because I've been getting stronger.'_

…Aren't you as strong as I am?

_'Not until you stomped Margaret I wasn't. Even got a new move… sorta. More like an upgrade.'_

Okay, that aside, how do I sync with you?

_'Ya just do. Nothing fancy to it.'_

That seems kinda cheap.

_'Well, I'm just your subconscious self given a voice, Roy. It doesn't take much for us to agree about stuff, so why would there be any problems with us syncing up?'_

Eh, you've got a point there. But whatever. I'm tired and still moderately grumpy. I can't wait to go to bed when we get back to the dorm.

* * *

And wait I did not. I was out as soon as I hit the pillow in my room.

I slammed my hand down on my alarm in the morning and groggily sat up, covering my mouth as I yawned.

"Roy?"

My mood soothed at the sound of Aigis' voice. I turned to look at her and noticed she seemed concerned.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?" she asked.

I blinked. "Um, I'm fine. Why?"

"I noticed a heightened level of aggression in you as we returned to the dorm last night." She stated. "I was worried you were still angry…"

"Oh…" I smiled a little. "I'm fine now. Sorry for worrying you."

Aigis gave me a wary look.

"Really, I'm fine!" I said defensively.

Aigis sighed. "Alright." She stood up. "I'll let you get ready for school now."

* * *

So I got ready for school and headed out. Once at school, though, I noticed something was very wrong.

There was almost nobody in class.

Seriously, it was just Me, Aigis, Hamuko, Yukari, Chidori, Junpei, Kaz, Kenji, Suzume, and like, two other dudes listening to our teachers for the first half of the day. Once lunch rolled around, I started looking around to see what the hell was up.

"Don't you know?" asked the most recent guy, Hanged Man Arcana, I'd asked about the large amount of non-Apathy Syndrome related absences. "There's a huge rally today for those Nyx guys."

I groaned. "Are you kidding me? A bunch of people skipped school for that bullshit?"

_'Apparently.'_

I wasn't asking you.

"Well, I heard the dudes who started the whole thing were gonna be their in person."

My head snapped in his direction instantly. "Really?"

Hanged Man nodded. "Yeah. It's apparently a big deal to a lot of the members to see them."

I rubbed my chin. "Huh. Well, thanks for answering my question." I turned and casually waved over my shoulder. "See ya later."

* * *

I got my school bag from the classroom and Wesker-Fu'd my way off campus before anyone could stop or spot me. I snatched one of the new flyers off a wall and looked at the location marked on it. That rally is a couple minutes away from starting.

Paulownia Mall, huh?

* * *

I had a mild surprise as I approached the mall. Chidori was already here.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Hello." She nodded in acknowledgement. "Why are you here?"

I shrugged. "Same as you. Got a plan?"

"No." Chidori admitted. "Do you?"

I shrugged again. "Nope. Guess we'll just have to wing it." I turned my head in the direction of the mall. "Takaya's all yours."

"Thank you."

* * *

We stuffed out Gekkoukan jackets into inventory cards along with my hat to lower the odds of getting recognized. Chidori also put her hair up in a ponytail, while I tried to re-style my hair a little bit. Managed to slick it into something vaguely resembling an emo-fringe partly over my right eye. I look really stupid and I know it. This can't fail at all.

That aside, the two of us came upon the huge stage or what the fuck ever Jin and Takaya had set up for them to preach from. Huge crowd of people here. I spot a few Gekkoukan uniforms, but they're on people I don't know. A loud cheer rang out from the crowd, alerting me to Takaya and Jin's 'grand' arrival.

"Brothers and sisters!" boomed Revolver Anti-Christ as Lord Bombish stood a little bit behind him. "The promised day is almost upon us. Soon, Nyx shall descend from on high to deliver her salvation to all who believe!"

Another cheer came from the crowd. They silenced as Takaya held up a hand to quiet them.

"I was once asked why I choose to walk the path of Nyx." He began. "I have an answer for that, and I will share it with you. Several years ago, my life was stolen from me. In its place, I was given a power I never asked for. I lamented my fate for a short time before I came to a revelation." he held his arms out in a sweeping gesture. "I learned that the future is only a delusion. Only by striving to live every moment to its fullest can the soul be truly satisfied. That is why I walk this path. That is why I stand here, with all the faithful, to welcome this glorious revolution, to shine a light upon this darkened world!"

I scowled slightly as the crowd cheered once more. How can people buy into this bullshit?

"We are one in our desire." continued Takaya. "We have all gathered to rejoice in the arrival of Nyx, but I ask you; Who is responsible for calling out to her? Those who abused the gifts of Nyx would lay the claim on themselves, but this is untrue. In their selfish pursuits, they aided in her coming, but it is not their doing alone! No, it is the will of all people! Nyx is coming because humanity has cried out for her salvation!"

I looked at Chidori. She looked at me. I nodded. She nodded back.

_'Time to get to work.'_

That it is, Azren.

=_How should we do this?_=

…I forgot you can do that, but anyways try to keep it subtle. We don't wanna make a show out of this unless there's no other option.

=_Alright._=

I returned my attention to Jin and started focusing. Can't stop what you can't see, so let's go for a little razor wind. I spotted his clothes swaying ever so faintly, so I know it's working. I glanced at Takaya and he looking like he was literally starting to sweat. Chidori's probably heating up the air around him before setting him on fire outright. I looked back at Jin and his face was twisting in confusion. Then he suddenly put a hand up to his face and touched it, then pulled it away. There was a shallow cut on his cheek that was bleeding. His eyes widened, then he looked out at the crowd. His head stopped dead and he was looking in the direction of me and Chidori.

Fucking hell, he spotted us!

"Takaya!" Jin shouted. "They're here!"

In an instant, Takaya dove away from his podium before it was engulfed in a pillar of flames. The crowd started dispersing quickly in a massive panic.

=_So much for subtlety._=

Pretty much. Time for Plan B. Might wanna use this to cover your face in case there's anyone who'd recognize you here.

I handed Chidori the scarf Andre gave me as I synced up with Azren. She covered the bottom half of her head with it, then started pushing through the frantic crowd towards the stage. Me? I kaja'd my way around all of that, appearing on stage behind Strega as Jin helped Takaya back up.

_"Greetings."_ I said, lowering the tone of my voice intentionally. Might help freak these two out.

"Who the hell are you?" Jin snapped, having whirled around and standing poised to chuck a grenade at me.

_"You likely remember my associate, the Reaper."_ I stated evenly. _"You know, the Master of Tartarus."_

Jin's eyes widened. "What the…? H-How the hell are you doing that?"

_"That information is not relevant."_ I replied before I reappeared infront of him with my hand on his throat. _"Especially not to the deceased."_

Jin struggled in my grip a little as I lifted him off the ground, then I heard the sound of a gun cocking near my head. I sighed, then backhanded Takaya off the stage, likely causing him to land in Chidori's path. I tossed Jin against the back wall of the stage half-heartedly. He merely bounced off and landed back on the platform roughly. He staggered upright only for his left leg to buckle under him. He grunted and tried to stand, only to find his leg didn't actually give out on him.

It was cut off just below the knee.

His face contorted into a look of sheer terror as he slowly turned to look at me. Apart from glowing three different colors, I was just sort of glaring at him with my arms crossed. I twitched my right hand and Jin's other leg was severed at the knee by razor-sharp wind. I grabbed him by the face, then smashed him into the back wall of the stage. I withdrew my hand, Jin's glasses falling off in pieces. I took a few steps back, my arms hanging at my sides before I pointed my right hand at him. Lightning arced from my fingers and into the Strega member, causing him no small amount of pain as possibly thousands of volts coursed through him. I let up after a few seconds, and he gasped for breath.

I raised my right hand again and snapped once. Jin's left arm was severed at the bicep. I snapped again and the same happened to his right arm. Both limbs fell to the ground as the person they used to be attached to screamed in agony as a set of seven, foot-long spikes of ice stabbed into his chest.

"Wh-What are you?" He wheezed as blood spilled from his mouth.

_"I am a shadow on the wall."_ I replied in English, snapping my fingers a third time. Jin's head rolled off his shoulders. _"I'll be the one to save us all."_

I glanced at the blood around the mangled body and sighed. I turned away, then obliterated Jin's remains with Azren's new move. The crowd was mostly gone now, with some stragglers forming a circle around Chidori's fight with Takaya. I looked to see a partly melted blob of metal on the ground. Must've been his gun. Takaya himself was trying to avoid Chidori's axe, but from the cuts on him I'd say he's been failing. He staggered back, clutching a bleeding wound on his chest.

"Why are you doing this, Chi-" He was cut off by Chidori throwing the chain of her axe at him, and said chain wrapping around his neck tightly. He chocked and tried to pry it looks, then pulled his hands way went the chains around his neck started burning red. Takaya screamed a choked scream as the chains burnt into his flesh before suddenly cooling down. He gasped and panted, falling to his knees. He looked up just as Chidori approached and kicked him viciously while at the same time pulling on the chain as hard as she could.

There was a resounding, sickening CRACK as Takaya's neck broke.

The corpse hit the ground, then burst into flames as Chidori's axe vanished back into a card she quickly tucked into her pocket. She looked over at me and nodded.

I nodded back, then kaja'd over to her as the flames that enveloped Takaya vanished. The only thing left of him was scorch marks on the ground. I grabbed her by the arm, the kaja'd us both away from the scene before the police could arrive.

* * *

"Why did you help me do that?"

I looked at Chidori as the two of us sat in the dorm lounge sketching quietly, waiting for everyone else to get back from school. We'd changed our clothes and threw the stuff we had on into the washing machine.

"The whole me killing Jin thing?" I asked.

Chidori nodded.

I stopped sketching. "So you could get your closure."

"Closure?"

"Mmhm. I did the same thing back in November when we fought them on the Moonlight Bridge." I explained. "I had Hamuko, Ken, and Akihiko face off with Takaya while the rest of us fought Jin. The three of them were most affected by Takaya shooting Shinjiro in October, and at the time we all thought it was the final battle, so I let them get that squared away while we dealt with his accomplice."

"So then, at the mall…"

I nodded. "I was letting you get your closure for him almost killing Junpei while I kept the obstacle, Jin, out of your way."

"I see…" Chidori murmured.

There was silence as we returned to our sketching.

"Roy?"

I glanced up at her. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

I smiled, then looked back at my drawing. "You're welcome, Chidori."

* * *

I was coming back down to the lounge after putting my sketchpad away sometime later when the dorm's front door flew open.

"FORTUNE."

Angry Mitsuru is angry.

"Just WHAT do you think you we-"

"ROY-SAN!"

**WHAM**

Oh god my ribs…

"Roy-san, where were you?"

"I was busy likely doing whatever pissed off Mitsuru, Aigis… now can you please let go of me I can't breathe…"

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

I let out a sigh of relief as Aigis got off of me. Good lord, I should've expected a concerned glomp from my girlfriend after vanishing in the middle of the day like that…

"Roy, what the hell were you doing?"

I looked over at Junpei, who did not seem to approve of my being alone with Chidori.

"We went to the mall and murdered Takaya and Jin in public?"

Junpei blinked. "Oh. Well, that's cool 'n stuff."

"NO IT IS NOT, IORI."

_'Run! It's Mitsuru-zilla!'_

Now is not the time for that, god damn it.

"Were you out of your mind?" demanded Mitsuru.

"No, it was probably what I should've done back in November instead of let them get away."

"You killed them in-!"

"So fucking what, Mitsuru?" I asked as I stood up. "Even if the two of us didn't kill them today, they would've died at Tartarus on the thirty-first anyhow, either by our hands or by the Reaper decapitating them. And if you must know, Chidori actually BEAT ME to the mall, which leads me to believe she was planning to kill them by herself if she had to. Why? She wanted some god damn closure with those guys, Takaya especially. Me? I kinda wanted the same thing, so I'm the one who savaged Jin like we were in Mortal freaking Kombat while Chidori burnt Takaya to cinders." I glared at Mitsuru. "Or would you have run the risk of them maybe doing something smart like, I dunno, using some of those bombs Jin's so fond of carrying around to blow up the dorm and kill us all?"

Mitsuru glared back at me and oh joy the air temperature is dropping.

"Fortune…" She snarled, a vein on her head visibly throbbing in anger.

"Mitsuru."

I blinked as the air stopped being cold and Mitsuru's head snapped to look at Aigis. And HOO BOY does Aigis not look happy.

"Leave him be." she growled, her blue eyes radiating a distinct 'hurt him and I break you' vibe.

"Uh, I'mgoinguptomyroomnowBYE!" I said quickly before turning and bolting up the stairs.

* * *

A knock on my door about a half hour later drew my attention away from my random surfing of the internet for lack of anything better to do.

"Who is it?"

"It's me." Yay Aigis! "May I speak with you?"

I stood up. "Sure thing, lemme get the door."

I walked over and opened it, smiling a little.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I want you to bend me over and take me downtown."

I blinked. Then I tried to speak only for absolutely nothing resembling a coherent sentence to spew from my mouth.

At that instant, uproarious laughter came from down the hall, causing me to angrily poke my head around the corner. Junpei was laughing his ass off at the end of the hall alongside Shinjiro and Hamuko. Chidori was there as well and was likewise smirking, clearly doing a better job of restraining her giggling.

"GOD DAMN IT JUNPEI." I bellowed. "What the hell, man?"

"Ah man, Roy…!" He sputtered between fits of laughter. "You should've seen the look on your face, pfff-Hahahaha!"

I scowled, then withdrew back into my room where Aigis was waiting for me. She had a mischievous smirk on her face.

"He didn't have to work very hard to convince you to say that, did he?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

Aigis shook her head. "No. Junpei-san said your reaction would be rather entertaining. And…" She blushed slightly. "I really did want to speak with you…"

I blinked, then moved over to shut down my laptop before joining her on the bed.

"What about?" I asked.

"I wanted to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Would you be angry with me if I did something without asking you first?"

"…Probably not, but it depends on what the some-mmrph!"

* * *

I woke up the next morning with Aigis snuggling up against me in my bed. I would've thought something bad had happened if it weren't for the fact we both still had our clothes on and I distinctly remember Aigis falling asleep before I did last night(after we were done making out of course).

It took me about ten minutes to get her up, because apparently she was far to comfortable cuddling and didn't want to have to go to school if it meant she couldn't stay where she was. A few smooches changed her tune, though. I got brick joked again when she brought up that whole 'I'm so charming' thing I said way back during summer again. Or at least I felt like I did even though we were the only ones in the room.

That aside, the school day was slightly lively for once. A lot of people were talking about the broad-daylight murders of Takaya and Jin. Not just because of the fact they were killed, but because of HOW they were killed. It was a good thing I futzed up my hair a bit and synced up with Azren, because otherwise I'd have gotten recognized. Nobody really mentioned the girl who burninated Takaya because they were all focused on the 'black and red demon' who slaughtered Jin. Apparently the cops are having a hard time trying to find the guy(me) or anyone who matches the physical description. Mainly because most people were hung up on the whole 'glowing red, black, and grey at the same time' aspect moreso then how tall I was, which kinda works in my favor but I'm not gonna push my luck with that sort of thing.

Aigis wouldn't let me out of her sight at all because she was still a bit miffed I just ditched her the day before, but I was okay with that and it worked to keep Mitsuru from possibly trying to beat me with something. Granted, I'm probably three steps shy of indestructible, but I'm DEFINITELY not going to test that theory against a pissed off Mitsuru. It could very well end in extreme pain for me, and with Nyx only two days away that'd probably be really bad.

I got back to the dorm with Aigis a little later then usual, and to my surprise Koromaru wanted to go for a walk. I say 'to my surprise' because he wasn't content with just me and someone else tagging along. Fuck no, the whole gang had to go to the shrine.

"H-Hey Ken, be careful!"

"I will, Sanada-san!"

I glanced up at the jungle gym as Ken balanced his way along the top over to Aki. Mitsuru and Yukari were perched in the middle talking to each other.

"Um, Junpei-kun, I think I'm stuck…"

"Relax, Fuuka. There's a way out. Try lookin' around in there."

Meanwhile Junpei was trying to help Fuuka navigate her way out from inside said jungle gym. Chidori was sitting atop the nearby slide just watching the events unfold.

"Take it easy, ya id- OOF!"

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Shinji-kun!"

"Ow…"

Hamuko, on the other hand, was getting down from atop the jungle gym with Shinjiro's help. And by 'help' I mean 'he broke her fall when she lost her footing and landed on him'. It was hilarious. Made funnier by Fuuka running around the inside of the jungle gym in a huge panic.

"J-Junpei-kun! Help!"

"Okay, okay, just calm down Fuuka. Look, there's a way out over here…"

I just smiled and lightly shook my head. I was sitting next to Aigis at the base of the slide with Koromaru resting his head on my lap. He yawned slightly as I petted him on he head. I looked around at all my friends, my gaze finally stopping when I got to Aigis.

I turned my head to look at the moon.

"Nyx is almost here." I began suddenly. "We're only gonna get one shot to stop it. And you know what?" my smile widened as everyone looked at me. "I'd say our chances of succeeding are pretty damn good."

* * *

Author Notes - Game Date is January 29th. This is it people. The final showdown is coming up. Then the times afterward. Also, because I feel like it, here's the official final status of the SEES Members added to AFNF:

Roy Fortune - Level 99  
Personae: Azren Telos, Asura, Helel, Satan, Messiah, Skadi, Susano-O, Lucifer, Chi You, Ananta, Vishnu  
Azren Telos Skillset(SP costs listed are before All's Ace's effect is applied):  
All's Ace (Halves cost of all skills and boosts spell power by 25%)  
Divine Gamble - Severe Almighty Damage to all enemies(Cost: 80 SP) (Replaced Joker's Wild and counts as a Spell, not a physical attack)  
Element Card - Heavy Fire, Ice, Elec, or Wind Damage(Your choice) to one enemy(Cost: 32 SP)  
Tornado Ace - Severe Wind Damage to all enemies(Cost: 45 SP)  
Mahasukukaja - Triple Hit/Evasion Rate for all allies(Cost: 40 SP)  
Wind Amp  
Weapon Master  
Mediarahan

Chidori Yoshino - Level 99  
Persona: Thea  
Skills:  
Spring of Life  
Agidyne  
Maragidyne  
Mind Charge  
Mahamaon  
Mamudoon  
Debilitate  
Diarahan

Shinjiro Aragaki - Level 99  
Persona: Hercules  
Skills:  
Regenerate 3  
God's Hand  
Akasha Arts  
Arms Master  
Power Charge  
Heavy Master  
Deathbound  
Torrent Shot

Hamuko Arisato - Level 99  
Persona: Hebe  
Skills:  
Bufudyne  
Mabufudyne  
Primal Force  
Myriad Arrows  
Heat Riser  
Auto-Mataru  
Auto-Maraku  
Auto-Masuku


	54. One Final Battle

Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**keyweildinglegend** - No, it's not bad. It was very much intended to be completely and utterly hilarious.

**eggmeister** - Okay, this is the last word on the whole topic of Yukari I'm going to say ever: Roy acts the way he does towards Yukari because that is something a real person might do. Put on a nice face but be rather scalding towards them inside of their mind. And where does the story's perspective happen to be told from? Inside Roy's head. And while yes, Roy has his dick moments towards Yukari, how often are YOU nice towards someone you really don't like a lot? That said, I do understand where you're coming from. What I'm doing is telling you what my train of thought about that is. If it makes you feel better, Rusei will not be anywhere near as scathing towards Yosuke(my least favorite character in Persona 4) as Roy is to Yukari. Yosuke has his flaws, but most of them are centralized at points where the GAME'S STORY bashes him for having them by punishing him in hilarious ways. Or at least that's the way I see it because it's honestly funnier to me that way. :D

**Overlord Duelist** - I don't have the patience to make a huge, excessively drawn out fight sequence like what that fight lends itself to at this point. While Margaret is a challenge in the game, there she's only up against four members of SEES, counting the protagonist. In here, she's up against the entire crew save Fuuka. That's going to make things a lot more quickly finished. Same could be said of Nyx, if you think about it. Going up against Nyx with a max level party of 4, again counting the protag, is really easy. Going up against Nyx with THE ENTIRETY OF SEES(Even Fuuka) would make things even quicker. Plus, let's face it. We all want to see Nyx get brutally savaged by a Megidolaon Oracle from Fuuka because it would be AWESOME. And you know what? That happens here. Twice.

**Despair's Cold Edge** - Keyboards are awesome, except when they act stupid sometimes like mine does on occasion. And see my mini-rant above to eggmeister about the Yukari thing. Besides, the story's almost over anyways. Just let it go, doods. srsly. o_o;

And I'm sad nobody noticed the Breaking Benjamin refrence in the last chapter. But oh well, ON WITH THE FINAL SHOWDOWN!

* * *

Not much has to be said about the Thirtieth. Boring day, except I went down to the Antique shop and cashed in all the gems I had left for everything I could get my hands on. On a bit of a whim regarding my overall capabilities as far as Personae go, I headed into the Velvet Room.

"Hey Igor. Hey Liz."

"Hello Master Roy." greeted the Velvet Attendant as I sat down.

"So, just doin' some last minute prep work stuff today." I began. "Just wanted to make sure all my 'sonas are up to snuff."

Igor chuckled. "There is no need to worry about that. I am confident your abilities are more then adequate."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely." He replied seriously. "I do not lie to our guests about these matters."

I bobbed my head a little. "Alright, cool."

"Also, Master Roy…"

I looked over at Elizabeth. "Yeah?"

"I have something for you." She stated, pulling a small satchel out from behind her back. "Well, more accurately I'm delivering this to you. It is intended as an apology from my sister."

Eyebrow. "An apology?"

Liz nodded once. "She realized her own fault and wished to express her regret about what transpired, but did not wish to anger you again by delivering this to you."

I took the satchel from Liz and opened it. A bunch of rings were inside. I pulled a few out, and they all looked mostly the same, though some had aquamarine gemstones in them while others had amber gems.

"What are these?"

"The Aquamarine rings are known as Chakra Rings, while the ones with amber stones are Rudra Rings. Chakra Rings have an effect identical to the skill Spell Master and Rudra Rings bestow the effects of Arms Master."

I gave Elizabeth a slightly skeptical look. "And Margaret is just giving me a sack full of these things?"

"As I said, she wished to apologize for inciting your anger." Liz said firmly.

I looked at the rings in my hand for a second, then shrugged and put them back in the sack. "Alright then. Can't exactly be picky about this sort of thing at this point anyways."

"Thank you, Master Roy." She smiled. "I wish you luck in your impending battle."

I smiled as I stood up, tucking the satchel into my pocket. "Thanks Elizabeth."

* * *

So I headed back to the dorm and passed out rings to everyone who'd get use out of them. It was kinda tricky with Koromaru, but I eventually fenangled it onto a little dealy bopper to hang from his evoker collar like an ID tag.

The day of the Thirty First, we had no school and thus spent the whole day making absolutely certain we were completely ready. At around eleven pm, we gathered in the Command Room.

"Alright…" Mitsuru began. "This will probably be the last time we meet like this." She glanced around at us all. "…Is everyone ready?"

"U-Um… Can I say something?"

Our attention turned to Yukari as she stood up.

"I know that we have to defeat Nyx…" She said. "But, if you think about it, that means we'll be getting rid of the Dark Hour, so our memories may disappear…" she shook her head. "But even if that happens, I want you all to know I won't forget you! Even if it robs us of all our memories together… I will still remember you all!"

Junpei laughed a little. "We know you will, Yuka-tan."

"I won't forget you either!" said Fuuka.

"Neither will I!" Ken added.

"I will not forget you, Yukari-san." affirmed Aigis.

"Like I'd forget about my friends!" Hamuko giggled.

Mitsuru smirked. "Don't worry, even if you forget about us, I'll remind you."

"Yeah." agreed Akihiko. "So don't worry about it."

"I'm so glad to hear that…" Yukari sighed.

"Okay!" Junpei sprang to his feet as well. "Then, after the battle, no matter what happens, let's promise to meet each other again!"

"Not a bad idea." Shinjiro noted, rubbing his chin. "But where the hell are we gonna meet?"

"I don't think it should be the dorm." noted Fuuka. "We'll come back here anyways if all goes well… and shouldn't we also decide on when we'll meet?"

"That's a good point." said Chidori. "It should be on a day that has meaning to us all."

"Yeah, a special day." Aki nodded.

"What about Graduation Day?" Yukari suggested. "When the Dark Hour vanishes, our memories might not disappear right away, so we shouldn't plan to meet too soon after the battle."

"That, and I can't think of a day with any significance between now and then." I commented. "So yeah, Graduation Day would be our best bet."

"I agree." said Ken. "That day would be very easy to remember."

"Alright, Graduation day it is!" grinned Junpei. "Now, where should we meet?"

"It should be somewhere it's easy to recognize that peace has returned to the city." began Mitsuru. "And when we meet again, we should remember how we're feeling right now; That no matter what may happen, we will never look back."

"Yeah." nodded Yukari. "I agree."

"I've got just the place in mind, too." I smirked. "The roof of the school." I looked around. "Sound like a plan to you guys?"

Everyone looked at me and nodded. Well, Koromaru barked but you get the idea.

_"Alright, let's get this show on the road!"_ proclaimed Azren, popping into existence next to my head. _"We've got ass to kick and only one shot to kick it!"_

"They get the idea, dude." I grumbled, smacking him on the head. "But yeah." I grinned again. "You guys can count on me to watch your back. Just make sure to return the favor, alright?"

Yukari nodded. "Alright."

"I will do my best." Aigis stated firmly.

"Good, cuz I'm counting on ya!" Junpei said with a smirk.

"Heh, this is going to be easy." commented Akihiko, popping his knuckles.

"Hell yeah it is." agreed Shinjiro.

* * *

"You know, there's something missing…"

Junpei gave me a weird look as we all continued towards the school.

"Whaddya mean?" He asked.

"This is our big, epic march to the big bad where we're gonna go quite possibly punch out Cthulhu." I told him. "We need like, epic theme music for this or something."

Hamuko giggled. "Like what?"

I rubbed my chin for a few seconds, then snapped my fingers. "Highway to Hell."

"Huh?"

Theory test time! "Azren, hit it!"

Azren floated next to me and started bobbing his head as music began playing. Oh hell yes, wind manipulation-induced music! Fuck yeah.

"Living easy, loving free~" I sang in tune with the song. "Season ticket on a one-way ride~" I bobbed back and forth as I walked. "Asking nothing, leave me be. Takin' everythin' in my stride~!"

"Don't need a reason, don't need a right~" I did a sort of slide. "There ain't nothin' I'd rather do~!"

I bounced more to the beat. "Goin' down, Party time~!" I spun around and started walking backwards, holding my arms out to everyone. "My friends are gonna be there too~!"

I turned forward again and dramatically pointed in the direction of the school. "I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! On the Highway to Hell~! Highway to Hell~! I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~!"

I bounded forward a couple steps.

"No stop signs, speed limit~! Nobody's gonna slow us down~!" I am having too much fun with this. "Like a wheel, gonna spin it~! Nobody's mess me 'round~!"

"HEY SATAN!" I struck a pose for a second, then kept walking. I'm singing in Japanese in spite of the song being in English and it's hilarious to me. "Payin' my dues, playin' in a rockin' band~!"

I looked up at the sky. "HEY MAMA! Look at me~!" I smirked and pointed at myself with my thumb. "I'm on my way to the promised land~! WHOA~!"

"I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~!" I love the chorus. _"HIGHWAY TO HELL~!"_ Hey, I hear people singing along to the chorus! Kickass. _"On the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! Highway to HELL~!"_

"Nnnn~! Don't stop me~!" I then started Air guitaring along to the solo. Probably poorly, but damn it I'M HAVING FUN.

_"I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! On the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! On the HIGHWAY TO… HEEEEELL~!"_ Oh wow I hear Mitsuru singing along now that's hilarious. _"HIGHWAY TO HELL~! I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! I'm on the HIGHWAY TO HELL~! HIGHWAY TO HELL~!"_

"And I'm going down~" I stopped in my tracks for a second, then pointed in the direction of Tartarus again. "Aaaall the waaaay~!"

I let my arm drop to my side as I stared up at the moon. I heard everyone stop to probably look at me.

"On the highway to hell…"

* * *

Once I got that out of my system, we continued our trek to the school. I had to eat one of those Precious Egg things to recover the energy I wasted for my little musical number, but damn it, that was SO WORTH IT.

…Why am I being weird right before the big fight to save the world?

_'You're always weird, Roy. Why should now be an exception?'_

Good point.

Anyways, we arrived at the school gates just as the Dark Hour began, quickly making our way into Tartarus as it rose. We charged into the Access point up to the highest floor it connected to, then quickly ascended the tower. Shadows ran in fear and were only dispatched if they stayed in our path for more then a few seconds, usually with brute physical force to conserve our energy.

Once we got past the highest Barrier, the Tartarus decided to throw whatever the hell it had left at us. Trooper, Captain, and General Shadows stalked the halls of the highest portion of Tartarus. Granted they weren't much of a threat to us anymore, they were still a pain to get rid of. We eventually reached a floor that was more open then the others and merely led to a staircase. I'd wager Takaya and Jin would've waited here to stop us if Chidori and I hadn't killed them, but that's unimportant. It was the final floor of Tartarus before the top. We used healing items to patch ourselves up before we went up the final staircase.

Our steps came to a halt was we reached what was likely the roof. A circle of about twenty or so statues topped with birds, all of which seemed to be emitting black feather-like flames was basicly all that marked this as anything significant.

"We finally reached the top." noted Mitsuru.

"Hey, look at the sky!"

We all looked up.

"Something's coming!" exclaimed Fuuka.

Aki looked at her. "Is it Nyx?"

"I can sense it without even focusing…" She said worriedly. "This is the first time that's ever happened…"

A moment later, something huge just… appeared infront of the moon. It had four… wings, I guess coming from its legs. It landed, and turned out to be wearing black chess piece-looking armor, complete with a crown and impossibly long sword. But that wasn't what I was focused on most.

"You are…" Aigis murmured.

"Ryoji-kun…?" asked Yukari.

**_"That was my name for a time."_** He replied, his voice sounding warped, distorted, and monotonous. His face and lips didn't move, though. **_"I didn't mind it."_**

"…What's going on?" Mitsuru sounded on edge. "Wait, are you…?"

_**"I am merely the harbinger of the Fall."**_ he insisted. **_"Although, Nyx and myself are now one and the same."_**

"Is that so?" scoffed Akihiko. "Well regardless, I don't regret my decision. I'll defeat you, no matter what you are!"

_**"I see… then, you must already know. What people fear most… what they try to ignore… that is what I am."**_

"We know that already." growled Ken.

Shinjiro shifted his stance. "Everyone does."

"You are what awaits all living things from the moment they are born."

_**"Then, you also understand that it's pointless to resist…"**_ Ryoji cocked his head to the side slightly. _**"So, why do you? There must be fear in your hearts."**_

"Yeah, of course I'm scared!" Junpei snapped. "But, it's no use carrying on about it! I wanna live!"

"I'm tired of running!" shouted Yukari. "Living means looking death square in the face… So, I won't back down… Not even from you!"

"I'd sooner jump off this tower then sit back and let you kill me!" snarled Hamuko. "And nothing's gonna change my mind!"

"I will stop you, even if it costs me my life." stated Aigis firmly. "That is my own decision!"

_**"…I see."**_ Ryoji shifted his stance slightly.

"Everyone, get ready!" warned Fuuka. "Nyx is preparing to attack!" I heard her turn around. "I'm also sensing Shadows approaching from below, too!"

"Alright, Fuuka, Junpei, you two stay up here!" I barked as I synced up with Azren. _"Everyone else go hold them off! I'll send Junpei back to swap for someone if I need the help!"_

"This is our last chance…" noted Mitsuru. "We can't afford to lose!"

_"And we won't!"_ I smirked. _"Now get going!"_

_{Let's win this… I know we can do it!}_

_**"Do you truly intend to fight me?"**_ ask the Nyx Avatar as Junpei and I stared him down as the others descended the stairs behind us.

_**"Fight? No. Slaughter? YES."**_ I channeled a Mind Charge card before I snapped my fingers, unleashing a Tornado Ace in razor wind form to blast the Avatar. It impacted him, and he sort of slumped over. The hell?

_**"The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate… Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope."**_ he began, his permanent grin seeming to widen. _**"Yes… the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…"**_

_**"Attaining one's dream requires a stern will and unfailing determination."**_

Nyx raise his left hand as a Fool Arcana Tarot card appeared, then tapped his hand against it. The Card flashed and turned into the Magician before vanishing.

A wall of fire surged forth from Nyx, harmlessly impacting Junpei while I simply dodged it.

_{Nyx's Arcana changed to the Magician?}_ Wait what? _{Be careful! Its properties have changed!}_

To confirm that theory, I chucked a fire Element Card at Nyx. The flames were absorbed. Okay, fire's… wait, duh! _"Junpei! Hit it with Fire break!"_

"I gotcha! Persona!" BANG Trismegistos appeared and waved his hand, sending a sphere of orange flames at Nyx. The orb impacted and caused Nyx to shudder. Perfect.

_"HAMMER AWAY!"_

Junpei and I surged forward, dodging around blasts of flame before our Personae exploded into existence behind us.

Junpei was doing his Rule of Three thing and slashing at Nyx while Trismegistos did a Brave Blade kick to its face. Meanwhile I was clawing at Nyx's torso as Asura burnt the ever loving shit out of him with Ragnarok. Nyx swung out his massive sword, launching a wave of red and black energy at us. It impacted and knocked us back as our Personas vanished, but otherwise didn't do any real harm for the most part. Must've been Almighty, but pathetic like Megido. Ah, whatever. Back to killing it!

I sprang to my feet alongside the Junpei Trio, all of whom instantly lashed out with Brave Blades channeled through their swords. I supplied a quick Mediarahan before I fired a Divine Gamble -that new move of Azren's- straight at Nyx's head. The blast apparently managed to stagger the bastard for a second, then he glanced at us.

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed… The silent voice within one's heart whispers the most profound wisdom."**_

Ryoji lifted his left hand again as the Magician card appeared, then tapped it once. This time it morphed into the Priestess.

I feel like doing something for sheer Irony value.

_"Fuuka, start winding up for Oracle! Junpei, go switch out with Mitsuru!"_ I have a theory about what Nyx is doing.

_{Alright, just be careful Roy-kun!}_

"You sure about that, man?"

_"Very sure! Now get going!"_

"Alright!"

I dove out of the way of a large pillar of Ice while Junpei scurried off, switching Skadi to the front of my head. More Ice shot at me, but because Skadi absorbs ice it wasn't that big of a deal while I summoned her to throw out Akasha Arts. It didn't do much in the way of actual damage, but it did give me a few seconds to catch my breath while Nyx was reeling. Once it started attacking again, it just kept throwing Ice at me, so I would throw Akasha Arts back. It was sort of like Tennis, except I was murdering the harbinger of the apocalypse while said harbinger kept healing me because he's stupid.

_{Get back, Roy-kun! I'm deploying Oracle!}_

I'd already kaja'd out of the potential blast range as three orbs of light appeared above Nyx. The started spinning in place till they formed a solid ring of energy, then another mass of power started building up in the middle. What in the hell is-

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**_

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME. It was like a satellite laser strike and… Holy fuck did she blow a whole in Tartarus again?

…Yeah she blew a hole in Tartarus a-HOLY FUCK HOW DEEP IS THIS DAMN THING? Wait… Is that the Disco fever block down there at the bottom? I think it is… Holy shit Fuuka!

Wait where the hell is-

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed."**_

Nevermind.

**_"Celebrate life's grandeur… its brilliance… its magnificence…"_**

Nyx rose up out of the hole and again tapped the Tarot card, changing it from Priestess to Empress.

Theory confirmed, we're going through the Fool's Journey as we kill the shit out of this asshole. Maybe I shouldn't have learned so much about tarot while I had Ryoji trapped in my brain.

The concussive blast of wind to my face reminded me that I need to be dodging shit and not thinking so god damn much, so I started bolting around evading miniature tornados being thrown at me. Now, going by the Magician Arcana Nyx used, it'll probably absorb the element it attacks with. So in about-

**BANG**

Now Mitsuru's sudden arrival with epic ice spears will be very useful. Skewered it right through the wings, actually. Bastard probably won't be going anywhere till we're done with it.

I didn't miss much of a beat and started chucking Mind Charged element cards at Nyx like crazy as Mitsuru continuously had ice spears impale the living shit out of him until he suddenly broke free and seemed to be right as rain.

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed. Only courage in the face of doubt can lead one to the answer…"**_

Son of a bitch it heals between Arcana! _"MITSURU! SWITCH WITH AKIHIKO!"_ I shouted as Ryoji tapped the card from Empress to Emperor. _"HURRY!"_

"Roger!"

I darted around the onslaught of lightning as fast as possible, using Dia when necessary to keep myself moving. I channeled a Mind Charge card again and unleashed another Tornado Ace, but this one wasn't as effective as I'd hoped and I got hit with a Ziodyne for my troubles. I staggered back to my feet just as Akihiko hit Nyx like a brick through a window, weakening the hell out of it with his -nda spells and in a big hurry.

Hey, Fuuka! Get Shinjiro up here too!

_{Alright, I'll let him know!}_

Thank you, now to help Aki finish this Arcana! I Mind Charged again and threw a fire element card at Nyx, causing a very nice explosion.

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed."**_

Kickass, another one down!"

_**"It is indeed a precious gift to understand the forces that guide oneself…"**_

Nyx tapped the card again, shifting to Hierophant mere moments before Hercules burst onto the scene and unleashed a Deathbound on him.

_"Don't waste time with the little stuff!"_ I yelled. _"Hit 'em with a Fusion Spell!"_

"Alright Aki, let's do this!"

"Right! Persona!" **BANG BANG**

Caesar and Hercules appeared side by side, gripping Caesar's globe before stabbing it with their swords. The ever so lovely sight of metal spikes shooting out of Tartarus' roof and impaling the Avatar before massive arcs of lightning tore through him was soon to follow. Not to be left out, I summoned Susano-O to call down a Thunder Reign on top of that attack. Nyx snarled in anger, then pried himself free of the spikes.

_"Aki, Shinji, go get send up Yukari!"_

"You got it, Roy! Watch yourself!"

**_"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed."_**

_"I will, just hurry!"_

**_"There is both joy and wonder in coming to understand another…"_**

I switched to Asura for the protection of Unshaken Will as Nyx hurled a Holy Arrow at me. Fan fucking tastic, he's gonna try charming us. That's never fucking good.

I launched a Ragnarok at the Avatar, then darted out of the way of more Holy Arrows. I got slightly distracted when a wall of wind arrows from Yukari blindsided the Nyx Avatar and ultimately did a whole lot of NOTHING to him. Ryoji was also distracted, which let me fire a Divine Gamble at him. Before he could retaliate, Yukari sniped him in the head with a bunch of regular arrows sped up to near bullet speed with her wind manipulation.

**_"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…"_**

_{Yukari-chan, please go help the others! They're in trouble!}_

"Alright! Roy, who should I send up to help you?"

**_"One of life's greatest blessings is the freedom to pursue one's goals."_**

_"Aigis! And hurry!"_

I used my clawed hands to block Nyx's massive blade as the Avatar apparently decided to go direct and start trying to stab me to death with his ten foot fucking broadsword. I dodged around a few of his attacks, but got blasted with a Heat Wave and knocked down. I got up just as Nyx used Power Charge, then kaja'd out of the way of a Fatal End that left a crater in the ground. I tossed an Ice Card at Ryoji's head, blinding him but not stopping him from cutting loose with another Heat Wave. I withstood the attack and fired another Divine Gamble at Nyx while two orange beams impacted from another angle.

I turned to see Aigis with her Tarukaja laser cannons blasting away as she unloaded with her finger guns. Said finger guns didn't do anything to Nyx, so she let up on them pretty quickly. I joined in with repeated Element Cards between applying healing to keep us on our feet, then eventually fired a Tornado Ace at Ryoji.

**_"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed."_**

Justice next. _"Aigis, go switch with Ken!"_

"Are you sure?"

_"Positive! And don't worry, I'll be fine. Just go!_

Aigis gave me a forlorn look, then darted off as Nyx raised his left hand.

**_"To find the one true path, one must seek guidance amidst uncertainty…"_**

He tapped the card, signifying his switch to the next Arcana.

Light flooded the area as a Mahamaon struck the area, but Azren Telos renders me immune to that sort of thing so no big deal. By the time the light died down, Kala Nemi appeared and punched Nyx in the head with a Primal Force while Ken ran up next to me. He looks a little worse for wear, though. Must be hard times keeping an entire tower's worth of Shadows back. Better hurry this up.

Kala Nemi disappeared just before Nyx tried again with another Mahamaon, which like the one before it failed miserably. I'm going to venture a guess that Nyx's attack capabilities are based on the current Arcana, and the trend I've seen with Justice Personae I've used is mostly attacking with light skills.

Which means we can just blow this guy away with no trouble at all, and there's really no point in dragging Ken away from the others when they probably need his help more then I do.

_"Ken, go back and help everyone else! I'm pretty sure I can handle things here by myself for now!"_

"If you say so! Be careful, Roy-san!"

_"Same to you, Ken!"_ I called back before unleashing both a Tornado Ace and a Divine Gamble at Nyx. He tried attacking again, this time with a simple Hamaon that, like all the attacks before it, did absolutely nothing to stop me from Mind Charging and blasting him in the face with Black Viper from Satan.

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed… It requires great courage to look at oneself honestly, and forge one's own path…"**_

I cringed and set Asura back up front when I saw the card turn from Justice to Hermit. Bastard's gonna be using Aliments, and the only thing Unshaken Will doesn't safeguard against is Poison. If I have to, I can just switch to Messiah for Salvation quick to solve that so all that's left to do is-

**'NYX.'**

Wait what

I turned to- WHY IS THE REAPER UP HERE?

**'You shall not have your victory on this day!'** Proclaimed the Master of Tartarus in his true Reapnatos form, holding his scythe menacingly. **'You seek to end life, but you are here to deliver nothing more then quiet slumber!'**

_**"What are you?"**_ asked Ryoji curiously.

The Reaper drew himself to his full height, which would've been more impressive if he was taller then the Avatar of Nyx.

**'I am Death. THE ONLY DEATH FOR THIS WORLD!'**

He swung his scythe an a wave of white energy tore through the air and cut into Nyx's body.

**'Come, Fool.'** The Reaper said to me as Nyx recoiled from the attack. **'Let us end this vermin swiftly.'**

_"Sounds like a plan, Reaper!"_ I agreed, and the two of us charged in to attack.

Nyx cast Tetrakarn on himself, presumably expecting physical attacks that would be repelled. When the Reaper's scythe cut into his body along with my claws, though, he likely realized we're attacking with Almighty Skills. This is gonna be easy as hell.

To dispel the barrier before I tried calling in more reinforcements, though, I switched to Messiah and threw a Torrent Shot skillcard at Nyx. It bounced back and healed me, then I went back to Asura to launch a Ragnarok. I got swatted aside by Ryoji, but bounced back to my feet in time to see him in a heated clash of weapons with the Reaper.

_**"This affair does not concern you."**_ stated the Nyx Avatar as he parried the Reaper's scythe with his sword. _**"Why are you interfering?"**_

**'Because it is the path I have chosen to walk, Thanatos.'** Replied the Master of Tartarus evenly. **'An a mere imitation cannot match my power!'**

In a flourish, the Reaper managed to knock Nyx's sword out of his hand and then-

_**SKLPRTCH**_

-FREAKING DECAPITATED HIM WITH HIS SCYTHE. HOLY FUCKING HELL.

_**"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…"**_

OH MY GOD HOW IS IT NOT DEAD

The headless Avatar knocked the Reaper aside, then grasped its sword with its right hand and its head with his left. Ryoji then casually reattached his head to his neck like someone putting back on a hat after the wind blew it off.

_**"Alongside time exists fate, the bearer of cruelty."**_

Even if this thing kills me I'm going to have nightmares forever now.

**'…Your allies seem to be in a dire situation.'**

Huh?

**'I shall assist them.'** stated the Reaper as he began to melt into the ground. **'Your power is sufficient to defeat Nyx.'**

I blinked for a second, then got reminded Ryoji's still wants to kill me when a bolt of lightning struck me. I grunted, then retaliated with a full elemental spread of Element Cards.

They fizzled harmlessly against Nyx's armor.

Shit, that's going to be a pain. FUUKA! Get Hamuko up here please!

_{Okay!}_

And now I need to get back to DODGING LIGHTNING BOLTS AND FIREBALLS SON OF A BITCH!

I dodged around most of the incoming attacks, but got knocked around by a heavy wall of ice. I bounced back to my feet quickly and drove a Divine Gamble through my hand and the second wall of ice Nyx launched at me. As the ice shattered from my punch, I saw a Primal Force plow into Nyx which tells me Hamuko's here.

_"Hamuko, stick to Physicals!"_ I barked while I summoned Chi You to strike with a charged Pralaya. _"Elemental skills won't hurt it!"_

"Alright! Hebe!" **BANG**

I fired off another Gamble as Hebe's Myriad Arrows rained down on Nyx. Hamuko's attack got the harbinger to hold still long enough for the blast of Almighty energy to tear into his shoulder. He grunted, and was again hit with another Primal Force while I healed myself and Hamuko with Mediarahan. Ryoji retaliated with a wall of scything winds that I kaja'd around while Hamuko merely had her hair sway in the breeze a little due to her Storm Ring protecting her. She evoked Hebe twice more -once to boost me with Heat Riser, then again to unleash another Myriad Arrows- while I channeled Mind Charge before summoning Azren to launch Divine Gamble.

Both attacks blasted Ryoji towards the hole Fuuka's Oracle made earlier, and he almost fell in but he quickly regained his balance.

**_"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…"_**

_"Hamuko, go send Koromaru and Chidori up here!"_

"Okay!" She was gone almost instantly as Nyx tapped the floating card, indicating the switch to the Strength Arcana.

**_"Only with strength can one endure suffering and torment."_**

I bolted out of the way of a God's Hand, throwing an Ice Card at the Nyx Avatar at the same time. The card hit home and caused some damage, but I ended up getting hit by a second God's Hand and smashed into the ground. I kaja'd out of the shallow crater before a Power Charged Primal Force plowed a hole in the roof and unleashed a Mind Charged Niflheim from Skadi at Ryoji. He was frozen in place, then was struck by a multi-colored black beam before getting engulfed in flames.

An angry bark rang through the air alongside a gunshot, then more flames consumed Nyx. Chidori and Koromaru kept up the inferno, and I supplied my own literal firepower with a barrage of Ragnarok spells from Asura. The flames were suddenly blown away when Nyx swung his sword, severe burns covering most of him. They vanished quickly.

**_"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed… In the face of disaster lies opportunity for renewal."_**

And I'm getting frustrated and sick of this bullshit. _"BURN HIM TO THE GROUND."_

Ryoji had started to possibly prepare an attack when another three-sided wall of hellfire swallowed him up yet again. I then switched to Azren and unleashed a charged Tornado Ace to turn the wall of fire into a swirling vortex of flaming death and followed up with a Divine Gamble. Again Nyx cut the flames apart, and seemed to be glaring at us.

**_"The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate…"_**

Fuuka. Get everyone else up here. Now. And start winding up for another Oracle. We're gonna end this with one hell of a Grand Finale.

_{Alright.}_

**_"Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…"_**

Nyx loomed over me, Koro, and Chidori. I very quickly heard the footsteps of everyone else approaching from behind.

**_"Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are… Death awaits you."_**

Nyx raised his hand and tapped the card, shifting his Arcana to Death.

_{I sense… Death! Nyx's True Arcana is Death!}_

_"Fuuka. Play my favorite song, please."_

_{…Huh?}_

_"Monsters. Ya know, the song I sung back at Yakushima? Play it please."_

_{Um… Okay…}_

The opening notes of the song began. I don't see why I shouldn't hear this right now.

**_"You cannot avoid death."_** stated the Nyx Avatar. _**"To live is to die; they are one in the same…"**_

_"We know."_ I replied. _"We just don't feel like dieing right now."_

I dropped low and did a quick sweeping kick on the ground, empowered with a Tornado Ace. The fierce winds at such a low angle actually knocked Nyx off its feet.

_"HERE'S OUR SHOT AT AN ALL-OUT ATTACK!"_ I barked. _"AND WE'RE GONNA TAKE IT!"_

"THAT'S MY KINDA PLAN!" Shouted Junpei gleefully as he surged forward with his Rule of Three going, the trio tearing into Nyx quickly with flaming swords as the monstrous Avatar struggled to get back up. The Junpeis backed off before a massive pillar of energy struck from above; Fuuka's Megidolaon Oracle searing the harbinger with almighty energy. The moment the beam died down, a trio of gunshots rang out. Ice and metal lanced out of the ground and impaled Ryoji as a storm of lightning tore through his body. A veritable hail of tornado arrows rained down as the electricity only barely showed signs of letting up before a pair of orange beams stabbed into Nyx's body while a single, massive strike of lightning came from above like divine retribution. More spears of ice surged forth alongside two massive walls of scorching hellfire, striking Nyx as I crushed a black gem in my hand. Massive, all-destroying energy arced around me before I harnessed it into one hand then unleashed its nigh-unstoppable power upon Ryoji, filling my vision with near blinding light for what I hoped would be the last time as my favorite song's final notes played.

* * *

The light faded and the Nyx Avatar lay motionless on the ground, smoldering.

"…Did we do it?" asked Mitsuru.

"I… don't know…" I replied, desyncing with Azren.

Then Ryoji twitched.

"Such a pity…"

"WHAT."

"You understand fate, yet you still fight against it with all of your will…" he continued as he began floating limply into the air. "If more people were like you, then perhaps the Fall could have been prevented… but it's too late now."

"LIKE HELL IT IS!" I barked, firing a Divine Gamble beam straight at Ryoji's head. It impacted, but it was like he just shrugged it off. "DAMN IT, NO!"

I kept throwing attacks at it, as did everyone else but Ryoji didn't even flinch.

Then the Moon started to split open, as if it were being peeled like an orange. Some sort of giant… thing was inside it.

"The moon!"

"What is that?"

"Ryoji-kun's being swallowed up by the moon…" Fuuka stated in awestruck panic. "Wait… no, that's not it! Is the moon getting closer?"

"That's no moon…" I snarled. "That's fucking Nyx herself!"

A beam shot out of the top of Ryoji's crown and into Nyx.

"This… this can't be real!"

"Soon…" began Aigis. "Soon it will descend upon us… upon us all…"

We soon heard the sound of people screaming rising up from the streets below us, and the ringing of a bell alongside a deep rumbling.

Fuuka gasped suddenly. "Something's coming from the moon!"

A huge pulse of energy slammed down from above. I struggled to keep standing.

"What… The hell…?" I growled, my body quaking. "The fuck is this?"

"This is…" snarled Yukari. "Nothing…"

"It feels like something's crushing me…" Ken said with a strained voice.

Koromaru gave an agitated whimper-like growl, then I heard my friends falling to the ground around me. I couldn't stand much more myself and braced myself on one knee.

"I will never give up!" declared Aigis. "Never!"

I heard the humming of her headphones, signifying Orgia Mode. I heard her rise back to her feet.

"Why resist that which is inevitable?" asked Ryoji. "You will only suffer…"

"Damn it, I won't back down!" Junpei spat angrily, standing up as well.

"This won't stop me…!" grunted Shinjiro as he stood.

"Or me!" added Chidori as she shakily got back to her feet.

"I've made up my mind…" Yukari stated. "I'll fight to the end!"

I synced up with Azren and rose up along side everyone. _"You ain't fuckin' shit, Ryoji!"_

There was silence apart from the sounds of us all grunting angrily until another pulse slammed into us. Ken was the first one back on the ground alongside Koromaru.

"Ken…!" Aki shouted before he fell.

Hamuko and Shinjiro braced themselves on each other as the others started falling.

"No…!" Hamuko stammered before she was on her knees.

"Hamuko…!" grunted Shinji, then he was on the ground as well.

I heard Aigis straining next to me before Orgia Mode gave out and she collapsed. _"Aigis! GAH!"_

I was forced out of sync with Azren and was bracing myself on my hands and knees. The force Nyx was putting out was utterly insane.

"We've come this far!" Mitsuru screamed defiantly. "I WILL NOT SUBMIT!"

I don't know how much longer Mitsuru was still standing because I blacked out.

* * *

As soon as I saw the checkered floor, I sprinted as fast as I could towards the door and smashed my way through it. In an instant, I was in my chair across from Igor.

"There's not need to worry." he began before I could say anything. "This isn't the afterlife… You're still alive."

I sighed in slight relief, but now I'm curious as to why I'm here.

"Do you remember what I once told you…?" Igor asked. "How the strength of your Social Links will determine your potential?" He held a hand to his ear. "Listen… can you hear the many voices? Each one's power is limited… Yet, they all reach out to you…" his trademark grin widened slightly. "Can you feel them?"

I listened for a second. I heard something whispering in my ears and felt something… gentle. "Yeah… Yeah, I think I do…"

"Close your eyes and listen carefully…" Advised Igor. "Their voices may be faint, but certainly you hear them…"

He held up his arms and a mass of white energy appeared. I closed my eyes as I began to feel powerful emotions washing over me.

_"Something frightful going on…"_ Bunkichi? _"But we won't give up."_

_"That's right, dear…"_ Mitsuko? _"Roy-chan wouldn't want us to lose hope…"_

_"Something crazy's going on here…"_ Kaz! _"But I know you're out there doing all you can, Roy… So, I won't lose my cool, either."_ I heard the smirk in his tone. _"You taught me that."_

_"Roy…"_ Rio! _"Things are going crazy right now, and I'm scared… but I'll be all right. I can feel from here that you're doing your best… You have to believe… that you're not alone either…"_

_"Because you gave me hope… I'll be alright!"_ That's Chihiro! _"So please, hang in there…!"_

_"Oh god, this can't be happening!"_ Ms. Toriumi… _"I wish I could talk to him, and calm myself down… I hope Roy-kun's okay… He has to be… I can feel it."_

_"Roy-kun…"_ Now I hear Keisuke. _"I know you're trying to stay focused… You were there when I needed you… I hope I can do the same…"_

_"Everyone is scared, but not me…"_ Maiko! _"You showed me how to be tough! I won't give up."_

_"Roy-sama_…" Andre! _"'ow are you doing? I 'ope you are okay… I am 'ere for you… like you were zere for me!"_

_"What on earth made me think of you at a time like this…?"_ Tanaka? _"Well, I suppose you did teach me a thing or two about loyalty…"_

_"I know I'm not the only one who's suffered…"_ Akinari! _"You've endured a lot, too… But, you can't just give up… You taught me that."_

"Can you hear them?"

I opened my eyes and looked at Igor. "I can."

"These are the voices of hope that wish to help you…" he told me. "Separately, they are weak… but together, they will bring about a great change in you. Now is the time to draw on the true strength of the bonds you have forged!"

The mass of energy flashed, then revealed a single, glowing card.

"I never dreamed of seeing that card with my own eyes…" said Igor with amazement in his voice. "This is indeed a surprise! Behold the last power you and I shall unveil… It is the power to bring about a new beginning, or the ultimate end." He looked at me seriously, despite his grin. "It may be possible now, with this newfound power… You may be able to defeat the one who cannot be defeated."

The card floated over to me and I took it.

"What you have in your hands is the power of the Universe… Nothing is outside the realm of possibility for you now."

I blinked as the card vanished. I could still feel its power.

"We will soon reach your destination." stated Elizabeth.

I nodded and stood up.

"It seems that, in addition to Death, fate has also dealt you the Wild Card."

I laughed. "Ah man, you've been waiting to say that to me from day one, haven't you?"

Igor chuckled as well. "Perhaps. Now, you must accept your destiny. Our contract has been fulfilled… I have completed my role as well." He gave me a genuine smile as opposed to the normally blank one he always had. "…You were truly a remarkable guest."

"Your job may be over, but I've still got an ace up my sleeve." I said with a grin as the Velvet Room began slowing to a stop. "If fate wants to deal me a Wild Card, it better be prepared for me to give it one right back." I walked around the side of the table towards Elizabeth and held out my right hand to her. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Elizabeth."

"Likewise, Master Roy." She said with a smile as we shook hands.

I turned and held my hand to Igor once she let go. "Same to you, Igor. I really couldn't have done it without ya."

Igor laughed as he shook my hand. "You are quite welcome, my young friend. Farewell."

I let go and started past them both as the massive back gates of the Velvet Room opened.

"Later Days, Igor and Liz!" I said over my shoulder, waving once as I stepped into the light.

* * *

My eyes snapped open. I'm lying on the roof of Tartarus, and I can hear everyone struggling around me. But I can't feel that wave of pressure anymore. Hell, my body feels really light.

I easily stood up, plucking my hat off the ground. I tucked my left hand into my pocket as I casually placed my hat back on my head.

"What the?"

"How… can you move…?"

"It's my turn now." I said aloud as I stared up at Nyx, my right hand slipping into my other pocket as I began walking towards the edge of the roof.

"Roy…!" Shouted Akihiko. "Wait… Are you going to go alone?"

"No!" Aigis screamed. "Don't go!"

"Sorry Aigis." I said over my shoulder as I began ascending an invisible staircase. "I've gotta do this."

"What are you doing?" demanded Yukari.

"Damn it…" Junpei snarled. "Why the hell can't I stand up?"

"No, Roy-kun!" yelled Hamuko "Wait!"

I pulled my hands out of my pockets and started sprinting up the invisible steps.

"Why, after all we've been through…" began Yukari. "Stop, don't do this! Come back!"

* * *

I just kept running. I ran as hard as I could, and the world around me started resembling nothing but white streaks shooting past. I didn't hear anything except the pounding of my feet against whatever the hell I was running on, which was likely nothing but air.

Eventually, a large glowing egg appeared infront of me. I leapt forward and landed on a floating grey platform. Behind me was a chaotic maelstrom of orange clouds. Above was Nyx's true form, a glowing egg thing surrounded by what looked kind of like spider webs.

The webbing began glowing for a moment, then the power of Death exploded over the area. It took all I had to keep standing. I scowled, then threw a Wind Element Card at Nyx. Hardly seemed to scratch the damn thing.

Nyx began glowing again, then the power of Death washed over our battlefield again. I was knocked flat on my back by the force of it, but I was still alive.

"There's nothing we can do…?" Ken?

"Don't give up!" Akihiko? "We have to believe in him!"

"Give him strength!" Mitsuru? "Take my life if you must!"

I felt power surging into me, and rose to my feet. I was hunched over, panting heavily.

Nyx unleashed Death again. Somehow, it didn't hit me.

"Yeah, I'm willing to risk mine, too!" Yukari…

"He's going to face it all by himself!" Fuuka…

"No, he's not alone! I WON'T LET HIM DIE!" Heh. Fuck YEAH, Junpei!

Several glowing orbs appeared out of nowhere and flew into my body. I felt my strength coming back to me, and was standing upright without issue.

Nyx blasted the me with that Death thing again. I didn't feel a fucking thing.

I heard Koromaru's furious barking echo through the area.

"I won't allow this world to be destroyed!" Aigis…

"You hear that, Roy? Give 'em hell!" Shinjiro.

More power flowed into me. I'm almost ready…

Hrm. I think this calls for some good music.

I snapped my fingers and used that wind manipulation thing to play FES as Nyx's Death attack washed over me harmlessly again.

"This can't be the end! I refuse to accept that!" Chidori.

"Yeah! It's not over till we say it's over!" Hamuko.

"C'mon, Roy. Show 'em what you got!"

Wait, what?

I turned around. What the…?

"You heard your father. Go save your friends."

Behind me stood two people I'd never thought I'd see again.

My mom and dad.

"What're you waiting for?" Dad asked. "You've got work to do!"

I smiled and wiped away a tear. "Yeah, alright dad."

"We know you can do it, Roy." said Mom, smiling at me.

"I know I can, too." I replied. I didn't even notice Nyx's next attack, but I caught a glimpse of something in the clouds.

It was all of my friends… alongside two people I don't recognise. And what is Aigis wearing…? Ah, whatever. I've got more important things right now…

"Every man's gotta fight the fear, I'm the first to admit it; shear thoughts provoke the new era~" I sang in tune with the song as I turned back towards Nyx, ignoring its repeated Deathblasts. "Become a big terror, but my only rival is my shadow, rewind the playback and fix my own error~"

I reached into my jacket and pulled out the card of the Universe with my right hand.

"Get low to the ground, it's gettin' better, like I told you before, double up I did more cheddar~" This song makes almost no sense, but oh well. I held up my arm diagonally across my chest with the card near the left side of my face.

"L to the J say stay laced, here's my card, B, Royal flush!" I threw my arm upwards towards Nyx as light began radiating from the card. _"AND I'M THE ACE!"_

* * *

"Where are we…?"

I looked around. That's a good question Yukari. Where the hell… are…

…Why am I invisible?

"Did Nyx create this place?" asked Mitsuru. "…Or, was it him?"

Hell if I know, Mitsuru. Last thing I… wait, why can't I talk?

"Is he alright, Fuuka?" panicked Akihiko. "What happened?"

"Everything was engulfed by a bright light…" she reported. "I don't sense him."

Ken shook his head lightly in disbelief. "Don't tell me he…"

"No! That can't be!" shouted Junpei. "Try again! He can't be the only one…!"

Fuuka looked down and shook her head sadly.

Junpei staggered back a step. "You gotta be kidding me…"

"Damn it!" spat Akihiko. "Not again…!"

"No… Not it's not true!" said Hamuko, sounding like she was going to start crying. "Roy-kun's okay!"

I AM okay… well, kind of. I seem to have misplaced my everything except the ability to snark. I'm not sure what that says about my mindset except that it's probably not a good thing.

"We all decided to put our lives on the line…" Mitsuru began grimly. "In fact, we came here knowing we would most likely die."

"How could I be so powerless…?" Aigis asked as she fell to her knees. "This is what I was trying to prevent!"

_"Okay, will you guys CALM DOWN? I'm fine! I'm just… Well, I think I've been somehow been turned invisible for a little while because I can't see my legs. I can see you guys just fine."_

Everyone started looking around.

"Roy?" asked Chidori.

_"Oh hey, cool! You guys can hear me now! Sheesh, can't a guy who just punched Death in the face get a decent semi-psychic telephone connection type thing anymore?"_ I sighed. _"It's fuckin' ridiculous if you ask me…"_

Everyone smiled a little, but I was focused on the one Aigis had.

_**"Don't worry…"**_

"That voice…!"

_**"I will sleep once again. Normal days will return to this universe, for you… and for him."**_

Shut the fuck up, Ryoji. Nobody likes you.

_**"He's found the answer to life's greatest question. It just happened a bit sooner than it will for the rest of you."**_

…Shit I don't think they can hear me anymore. God damn it, Ryoji…

"Life's greatest question…" Aigis repeated.

**_"Aigis… You'll find the answer one day as well. You, too, are a precious living thing… You just need to realize how the bonds of friendship have changed you."_**

Okay, Ryoji got some respect points for that. Not a lot, but he did.

_**"The Dark Hour will soon vanish from this world… All will truly be relinquished from its dominion, and the legacy of life will continue. Congratulations, you have the miracle you sought. We shall meet again some day…"**_

LIKE HELL, RYOJI! Wait, what's with that light…?

* * *

I awoke to find myself sitting against the entrance door to Tartarus. I heard a bell chiming, then a rumbling. I stood and turned to look at the tower, and it was shattering and vanishing into the sky. The green glow of the Dark Hour faded with it, as did the blood on the ground. The moon returned to its true white color as the final bell chime sounded.

"Look! Roy-san…!"

"He came back…!"

I turned around to see everyone running up to me. I hopped down the front steps of the school with a smirk.

"Roy-san…" Fuuka wiped a tear from her eye. "Thank goodness…"

"You sure took your time!" Chuckled Junpei, trying to not sound choked up as he walked over and roughly smacked me on the shoulder. "You were really stringing us along there! Honestly…!"

I laughed a little. "Sorry about that, guys. Traffic was brutal…"

"You scared me…" said Ken. "I-I thought we might not ever see you again…"

"Guys, c'mon." Began Aki, also trying to hide the fact he was about to cry as well. "This isn't something we should be crying about…"

"Look who's talking…" laughed Ken..

"Shinji-kun…" giggled Hamuko as a tear rolled down her face. "Are you crying too?"

"N-No…!" he insisted. "It's just somethin' in my eye…"

Chidori smiled and wiped away her own tears. "I'm glad you're okay, Roy."

"Finally…" Mitsuru was smiling as well. "The gang's all here."

Koromaru barked happily.

"Roy-san…"

I turned to look at Aigis, and my eyes widened in surprise. "Aigis, are you…?"

"Huh…?" she reached up to touch her face, and wiped a tear off her own cheek. "I…!"

I smiled wearily as she kept trying to wipe her tears away, but they just kept coming.

"Uh-oh… They won't stop…" Aigis had a slightly laugh in her voice. "T-This is most unusual…"

"C'mon Aigis, now you're getting me all choked up…" I chuckled as I felt a slight sting in the corner of my eyes. "Let's just get home and get some sleep. After all we've been through… I'd say we've earned it."

* * *

Author Notes - And so Nyx was curbstomped by Roy & SEES. But the story's not done yet. There's still more to come.

And yes, Roy singing along to Highway to Hell prior to the Nyx fight was nessicary. As was him singing along to the P3:FES Opening right when he sealed Nyx. Anyways, next chapter is the end of the story! But there's always Answer of Aeon after that. And who knows what else after that… Mwehehehehe…


	55. One Last Moment

Final A Fool Named Fortune Pre-Chapter Review Answer Corner GO!

**Lunatsu13** - I felt adding Roy's parents was a good idea. I mean, Shinjiro can't exactly be the last bit of encouragement for Roy to save the day if he's not dead/comatose, and Roy really cared about his mom and dad. And honestly, I'm excited for both Answer of Aeon and Norimoto Style.

**TiFu** - That's why I had Reapnatos decapiate the Nyx Avatar. Because it's both awesome AND mentally traumatizing!

**Keyweildinglegend** - I wanted a One-to-one Arcana smackdown by SEES ending in an all-out attack from everyone, hence why Roy kept tagging people in with each Arcana Switch. Plus hey, if I'm gonna make a curbstomp, I'm gonna at least try and make it an EPIC one.

**ZidanReign** - You'll find out who the two strangers are in Answer of Aeon(obviously).

**Fanfic Reader Guy** - Yeah, it's been a hell of a ride. I'm glad you and everyone else who read this story enjoyed it, it's been a pleasure for me to write it.

And before I close this out, I simply DEMAND that everyone reading this goes to my deviant art page(Link in my profile) and check out some awesome fan art someone made of AFNF. Actually, scratch that, here's the direct link: c0baltjuce(.)deviantart(.)com/art/pirates-of-yakushima-209539063

Just be sure to remove the ( ) from around the .'s when you put it in your Address bar. Also, be sure to thank c0baltjuice for drawing that and showing it to me, because that motivated me to finish this chapter. And with further ado, let us proceed with the ending of A Fool Named Fortune.

* * *

We all headed back to the dorm and went to bed. I woke up in the morning and got ready, then headed downstairs.

"Mornin' guys." I said with a grin.

"Hey." Shinjiro greeted absently. He was sort of standing in the corner near the back door. The hell? I thought he stopped doing that…

"Good morning, Roy-kun." smiled Fuuka from her seat on the sofa. She was doing something on her laptop. "Did you sleep well?"

"I'm surprised I'm not tired, considering how late I went to bed." I admitted.

"You probably shouldn't have stayed up surfing the internet then, dude." laughed Junpei. "Or were you playing Devil May Cry Four again?"

Eyebrow. "The hell are you…?" And then I noticed.

Their Personae are gone.

Well, not really GONE, but… they're sealed or something…

"Hey, Roy…"

I turned to look at Yukari who was staring at me uneasily from the table.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look like something's bothering you…"

I blinked. "Huh? Oh, uh, nothing. I think I might've had a weird dream last night is all…"

"It was probably because of that movie you and Junpei-kun were watching the night before last." giggled Hamuko.

"Hey, it was a good flick!" he protested, then he looked at me. "Right dude?"

"Yeah, totally." I agreed. Wait, how do I know what he's talking about…? "Well, if you people will excuse me, imma get some food…"

* * *

So it turns out the Dark Hour going away really did make us all forget stuff. A lot of stuff, actually. Well, more like it caused a false memory thing. I say that because I realized I remembered a lot of things two ways - How they actually happened, and how they'd have happened without the Dark Hour.

For one, Fuuka was locked in the gym for a couple days before me and Junpei found her. Shinjiro and I got into a fight at that back alley, I got some of the shit kicked out of me, but he still showed up at the dorm two weeks after Fuuka joined us at the dorm. SEES was a sort of college prep thing that was designed to get students used to being away from home and around other students like you'd expect from going to college and stuff. Takaya and Jin were just a couple punks who regularly harassed us, started a cult, then apparently me and Chidori provoked a riot that got them killed. Part of their harassment still included shooting Shinjiro.

Chidori never knew the two Strega dudes the way she does. She was just a sort of orphan living in the same general area as them. Still met up with Junpei and the two of them hooked up. Her kidnapping of him was instead a date, but due to her being an orphan she was sick and had to be hospitalized when she collapsed part of the way through the date. Mitsuru was nice enough to help with the hospital stuff for her when Junpei asked, despite her and Akihiko not really interacting with us Juniors a lot.

Aigis is still a robot, though the only ones privy to that are myself and Mitsuru. She's a prototype built specifically for human interactions apparently, and we still ended up falling for each other due to me hanging out with her a lot because she latched onto me first, so Mitsuru figured it would be best if I showed her how to be a person. It's a small blessing.

Akihiko 'n me were training buddies, even after I quit the tennis team. Plus I helped him escape from his fangirl horde many a time, so we were pals. Mitsuru, on the other hand, came to me for some moral support after the Kyoto trip because I was the one who knew what it was like to cling to the lifeless body of your parent. The Ikutsuki thing went down exactly how I told my uncle it did; We found him ranting on the roof with a gun, Takeharu took a bullet for Mitsuru, I stole Ikutsuki's gun and shot him in the head.

Koromaru was rescued from some punks who were trying to vandalize the shine who I proceeded to beat the shit out of. It was the dudes from the back alley in June, too, just to make things more hilarious. It also turns out he still remembers everything, because when I found him at the shrine a couple days after the battle he came right up to me and started trying to channel Cerberus' power. It's another small consolation.

By the time the first Saturday after the battle rolled around, I was convinced that this was hell. My friends were still themselves, but none of them knew anything we did or how close we all were. Even when I was spending time with Aigis, I felt like it was someone I didn't even know.

On Sunday, exactly one week after the battle, I went to Naganaki Shrine to be alone. I went to the bench Akinari used to sit on, and had actually brought his journal with me. When I got there, I found a middle-aged lady sitting there.

"Hey." I greeted.

She looked at me curiously. "Hello there." her eyes lit up a little. "Oh… you must be… Um, by any chance is your name Roy-kun?"

I blinked. "Yeah, that's me."

"I see." she nodded slowly. "So… you're Roy-kun…" She shook her head slightly. "Oh, excuse me. I'm… Ms. Kamiki, Akinari's mother. My son talked about you a lot…" Ms. Kamiki smiled. "I was just thinking about him…"

"You wanna talk about him for a bit?" I asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I would, if you have the time." she stated. "Today is… a special day."

"It is?"

She nodded. "It must be another of God's tricks if I'm seeing you today." She looked up at the sky. "Today is my son's… Akinari's birthday. He'd be Twenty if he was still alive." She looked downward. "Only Nineteen years… it wasn't long enough. He was almost an adult… but he never made it."

"He had a genetic disease, didn't he?" I asked.

"Yes." replied Ms. Kamiki. "But me? I'm healthy as a horse…" She sighed. "The doctors detected it at birth… They knew he wouldn't live to see adulthood. Every day, I wondered if he'd wake up the next morning… I blamed myself for what he inherited…" She lifted her head slightly. "But… He said something to me near the end. 'I'm sorry to have brought so much pain into your life, Mother. I'm glad to have been given life. I'm glad to have been your son. Thank you so much for the life you have given me…'" She sniffled, and wiped a tear from her eye. "He was the one who suffered so much, and yet he said that to me…"

I smiled. The Sun… True Achievement.

"But…" She continued. "My son brought me a lot of joy, too." Ms. Kamiki looked at me. "Holding his warm body in my arms just after he was born… those tiny hands… that first smile… Hearing him breathe easily at night… Every day, I gave thanks for him being alive… Every day, I found new joy in him." She looked down again. "And now… I'm so lonely, and there's nothing I can do…" She shook her head lightly. "But my boy gave me so much… That I have to keep going on, looking straight ahead… that's how I feel."

"So you'll be living for him, too?" I asked.

Ms. Kamiki looked at me and nodded. "I'll eat the finest foods, visit the most exotic places… Everything my boy could never do…" she smiled. "I'll have to many stories to tell him about the things I've done. On that day… when we meet again, on the other side. If I didn't have that to look forward to… I don't know how I could go on."

"I'm sure he'll be waiting for you eagerly." I said.

"That reminds me…" she began. "When my son's condition worsened, he started writing a fable. But when I was cleaning out his room, I never found the notebook… He said he was going to show it to you first, when he was done. I asked him why not me, and he laughed and said 'you'll be the second one to see it, Mom'."

"And you are." I told her, holding up the notebook. "He finished it and gave this to me."

That shocked her. "My son… He was able to give it to you?"

I nodded, then told her about how I got the notebook from him.

"I… I see…" she murmured. "I'm so glad… that was my only regret… It was awful to think he wasn't able to finish his project…" She nodded slowly. "You should hold onto the notebook. I'm sure that's what my boy would've wanted." Ms. Kamiki smiled again. "I'll wait for him to tell it to me himself, when I see him again…" she chuckled. "Heh… now I have something else to look forward to…"

"Well hey…" I began. "Why not share it with the world?"

She looked at me curiously. "What do you mean?"

"This is a story." I said, tapping the notebook gently. "And it deserves to be told."

* * *

The two of us spent the better part of an hour talking, and finally agreed to see about getting Akinari's story turned into a real book. I gave it to her so she could take it to a publisher.

"I'm glad you and I could finally meet." she said as she clutched her son's notebook to her chest. "Thank you." She started to leave, but stopped and turned back to face me. "…There is one piece of advice I'd like to give you, as an old lady to a young man…" Ms. Kamiki smiled. "Take good care of the ones dearest to you. If you wait until their time as come, and you're clinging to their cold bodies… then it's too late."

I winced slightly. That's… what happened to Mom…

"…Everyone who's born will die someday." Akinari's mother continued. "Not just Akinari, or me, or you. It happens to everyone… So before that happens… It doesn't take a grand gesture. You don't have to make a big production of it, but…" She smiled. "If you love someone, let them know it. We all go through life with the same struggles, the same heartbreak… We should be able to prop each other up with the same love and kindness as well. I'm sure you have something precious you can share with people. Always remember that."

I nodded. "I will."

"Well, goodbye, Roy-kun." said Ms. Kamiki, then she walked away.

I sat on the bench for a moment, thinking to myself. I really should spend more time with Aigis…

* * *

I left the Shrine and decided to stop by the Iwatodai strip mall to grab something to eat.

God it's weird not having Azren in my head. But if he was…

"Hm…? You're…"

I stopped as I passed the takoyaki stand to see a vaguely familiar guy looking at me.

"Roy-kun, right?"

Eyebrow. "Have we met?"

"I'm… Maiko's dad."

…OH. "You're not going to try and punch me, are you?"

"No no, but…" he winced. "If you have a minute, could we sit and talk for a while?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

"Good, I was hoping you'd say that." He indicated a nearby bench. "Here, have a seat. Want some takoyaki? The stand here is really good."

I shrugged again. "Sure."

* * *

Three minutes later, and I was stuffing my face with takoyaki alongside Maiko's dad.

"When I see this place, I remember all the times I'd come here with Maiko…" He sighed. "She came here when she ran away from home, too." He chuckled. "She really loved the takoyaki…" He looked at me. "She was a good kid, huh?"

I nodded, swallowing the food in my mouth. "Yeah. Real nice kid."

"She's so good that I wonder if she's really my kid sometimes." he laughed, then paused for a few moments. "I got a letter from Maiko. It's long and full of details about her new life over there. She says she's made a lot of friends."

"That's good." I commented. Nom.

I heard a crinkling next to me and glanced over at Maiko's dad. He was pulling a letter from his pocket. "Let's see… She's in charge of the rabbits at her new school, and she has to get up early to clean the cages. They yelled at her for forgetting her P.E. uniform… she forgot her homework and had to copy a friend's…" he laughed. "I never knew she was that forgetful… Oh, and she did so well at her recorder test, that she was asked to perform in front of everyone." "Then she goes on to talk about how she plays at the park right by the school with her friends every day. Her mother's doing well, too… they're having a lot of fun together."

I chuckled, tossing my empty takoyaki container into the trashcan. "That's good."

"Yeah…" agreed Maiko's dad. "Having fun… sounds nice. Nowadays, I come home to an empty house… the rooms seem so big without them." He frowned slightly. "I wonder if she feels the same way about her house, now that there's no dad in it." He sighed. "We put that kid through so much on account of our own problems… I feel terrible about it all…"

"Sorry for punching you back then." I said. "I was pretty stressed out at the time, and that whole thing wasn't makin' it any easier."

Maiko's dad shrugged. "It's fine, you had your heart in the right place." Then he stood up and glared at me. "Oh yeah, I forgot about this part, you little punk!"

"Huh?"

"Seems Maiko really took a shine to you." He snarled as he continued reading the letter. "She wrote ALLLL about you."

What.

"'I can't wait to grow up, dad! That's why I'm drinking lots of milk.'" He read aloud, then his eyes narrowed. "'I'm going to marry him someday!'"

Oh fucking hell, I forgot about that…

"What's up with that, you punk?" He demanded, stuffing the letter back into his jacket. "Y-You were taking advantage of my little Maiko, weren't you!"

"Okay, WHOA, hold on a second dude." I said sharply, standing up and glaring back at him. "SHE started hitting on ME, for one thing. For another, she's what, seven years old? How often do little kids say stuff like that and really mean it? And besides all that, I HAVE a girlfriend who I would very much love to spend the rest of my life with. So no offence to Maiko or anything, she's a really sweet little girl, but it probably wouldn't work out between us."

He narrowed his eyes at me again. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

"No, I'm not." I grunted. "In fact, I was stopping here to get some food while on the way to go see my girlfriend." I glanced at my watch. "Speaking of which, I need to get going." I turned and started walking away. "Later days, man."

* * *

I got back to the dorm quickly, but I couldn't find Aigis. Ended up catching a special on TV about Tanaka's big donation. Still almost as self-centered as ever, but at least he's starting to move in the right direction.

Aigis had left before me for school the next day, and I got shanghaied into taking something down to the Faculty office. Overheard Ms. Toriumi talking to another teacher who was going on about how good a job she's been doing lately. She just sort of slyly glanced in my direction as I walked out of the office as she continued her conversation.

Mr. Ono stopped me just outside and handed me a letter from Andre. Thankfully he wrote it in English so I could actually read it easily. From the sounds of things, he's not coming back to Japan for a while. Seems his aunt wasn't the only one paying his way, and he doesn't want to leave his Uncle alone while he's still grieving. I don't really blame him.

I kept having trouble trying to find Aigis after school for most of the rest of the week, but had some nice conversations with Hidetoshi, Kaz, Rio, Keisuke, and Bunkichi and Mitsuko before I finally caught up with her on Friday.

"Hey, Aigis!" I called out as I ran over to her near the front gate on the way out of school. "Wait for me!"

She stopped and looked back, smiling slightly. "Oh, hello Roy-san."

"Hello yourself." I chuckled as I walked up next to her, then we both started off the school grounds. "Have you been avoiding me this past week? I've been meaning to talk to you…"

She blinked. "You have?" I nodded. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were busy, so I made a point of staying out of your way."

I pouted a little. "C'mon, Aigis. When have I ever been too busy to spend time with you?"

"Well…" Aigis began, starting to list things off on her fingers. "There was the time you went to Inaba, the days you attended Student Council or another school club, once or twice before exams…"

I groaned. "Okay, I get it. There's been times…You don't have to be mean about it, you know…"

She giggled. "I just like teasing you sometimes, Roy-san."

I sighed. "I know, I know…" I looked at her. "Say, do you want to walk to school together tomorrow? Just us, I mean?"

Aigis was silent for a moment as she likely internally deliberated it for a moment, then she looked at me again and nodded. "I'd love to."

I smiled. "Great."

* * *

So I walked to school with Aigis the next morning. There wasn't much I really wanted to talk about with her, so our conversation died out about halfway from Port Island Station to the School.

"Roy-san, wait up!"

I stopped at the gate and turned around, Aigis running to catch to me. She still looks adorable in the Uniform, honestly.

"Gah, sorry Aigis…" I winced as she approached. "I kinda spaced out…"

"I noticed." She huffed bluntly. "You really ought to pay more attention, Roy-san."

I sighed. "I know, I know…" I started grumbling under my breath. "Geez, it's like you're my mother or something…"

Aigis gave me a pointed look with a raised eyebrow. "Come again?"

Oh shit "N-Nothing! I was just commenting on how good you look this morning!"

"That's what I thought." She said with a smug grin, then the first bell rang. "Oh no, we're going to be late!" She grabbed my arm and started dragging me after her. "C'mon! Mitsuru-san will never let us hear the end of it if we're late to class!"

"Okay, okay! Just quit pulling like that, please!" I griped as we stopped at the shoe lockers. "Ya damn near tore my arm off…" I sighed as I changed my shoes. "But whatever." I looked at Aigis and smiled. "It just proves you care about me."

Aigis was facing away from me.

"Aigis?" I took a step towards her. "Are you okay?" Wait, why does this seem familiar…?

"Roy-san…?" She turned her head a little, but I still couldn't see her face.

"What's wrong, Aigis?"

Aigis turned around to face me. She had a sorrowful expression on her face, and she gently placed her right hand on my cheek.

"I'm sorry…"

I blinked, and my eyes widened.

"Roy-san?" Her expression became worried. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" I looked at her. "Oh, uh, yeah…" I looked over at the clock. "We should get to class, though…"

"You're right…" she pulled her hand away. "Let's go…"

We started towards the stairs. About halfway up, I looked over at her.

"Aigis?"

"Yes, Roy-san?"

"I need to talk to you after school about something important. Can you wait for me at the front gate?"

She looked at me with her confused head tilt for a moment, then nodded. "Of course."

I smiled. "Thanks…"

* * *

I'd almost forgotten it was the day before Valentine's Day until it was lunchtime, when the classroom basicly emptied out and people were passing around chocolate to each other around campus. I wandered around the school by myself for a little bit, then semi-literally bumped into Yukari.

"Oh, Roy-kun!" She exclaimed. "Sorry, I was just thinking about you." She fidgeted. "Hey, um… C-Can we go somewhere else? I need to talk to you…"

Consider me curious. "Alright, where to? Roof?"

"Yeah…"

* * *

So I headed up to the roof with Yukari.

"S-Sorry for calling you out here…" she apologized once we got to the roof. "Um… I actually have a little favor to ask…" Yukari fidgeted again. "Well…" She hesitated for a second. "I-It's my mom… I… want you to meet her."

Eyebrow. "Huh? What for?"

"H-Hey, that's not what I meant!" she said loudly. "I just promised to visit my mom… but I'm still kinda scared. If I see her… I might end up saying some really nasty things… What if we end up hurting each other even more? I don't wanna hurt her feelings…" She shook her head a little. "I still haven't sorted all this out inside…"

My eyebrow raised a little higher. "So you want me to tag along because… why?"

"W-Well, I'm pretty sure I want to go see her, but… I'd like you to come with me." She smiled. "I'll feel more confident just by having you around. I feel like I can clear the air with my mom if you come with me…" She absently kicked at the ground a little. "So… if it's not too much trouble…" Yukari gave me a hopeful look. "How about it?"

I winced. "I'd rather not, really. It's not my place to get involved in this sort of thing…"

"Oh… I see…" She looked down. "Well, m-maybe some other time, then…" She fidgeted nervously again. "And… Roy-kun? There's… something else I wanted to talk to you about…"

Eyebrow again. "What?"

"I… wanted to apologize again for that gift I tried to give you on your birthday…" She began, pulling a box out of the bag I hadn't noticed she was carrying till now. "And… I wanted to tell you why I tried to give it to you…"

She handed the thin box to me and I eyed it curiously, then shrugged and pulled the ribbon off of it and popped it open. I froze when I saw the contents.

"…You know what that is, right?"

I blinked. Honmei chocolate. It's this heart-shaped piece of pure chocolate that, in Japan, is only given to the person you've got a thing for. Otherwise you hand out this other kind that's meant for friends and such.

"So… Roy-kun… What do yo-" She stopped when I closed the lid on the box, then held it back out to her. "Huh?"

"Sorry, Yukari." I said as she gingerly took the container from me. "I don't feel that way about you."

She looked at me, dumbfounded. "…What?"

"I don't feel the same way about you that you feel about me." I stated. "I'm sorry."

Yukari was speechless as I turned and walked back into the building silently.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day mulling over the revelation that Yukari had a crush on me. Honestly, it made her reactions to Aigis a lot of those times make more sense. Plus, considering she likely noticed my interactions with Fuuka and Mitsuru weren't very romantic-ish, she probably saw Aigis as the only possible obstacle for my affections. Not like she had a chance, anyways. Yeah, she's good looking and has her genuinely nice moments, but she's just not my type. If she was still depressed about me rejecting her, she didn't show it. I'd console her, but I really don't want to get her hopes up only to dash them again. I'm not that cruel of a person.

Once school was out, I met up with Aigis at the gate.

"Hello, Roy-san." She said with a smile as I approached.

"Hey." I replied. "Let's be off, shall we?"

* * *

"So, Roy-san…" Aigis began once we were about two or three blocks away from school. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"You remember, don't you?" I asked, cutting right to the chase.

She stopped and looked at me curiously with that head tilt of hers. "Remember what?"

I stopped as well and faced her. "You know what. Shadows, Tartarus, Nyx; All of it. You didn't forget, did you?"

Aigis' eyes widened in shock. "You… remember…?"

"I never forgot, Aigis." I replied.

In an instant, Aigis was hugging me tightly.

"You remember…!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad… Everyone else seems to have forgotten, but I remembered… That day, we…"

"Hey, take it easy…" I hugged her back. "I'm right here…"

"I'm sorry…" she apologized, sounding on the verge of tears. "It's just that, when I remembered several days ago… I was afraid you might go somewhere far away, like you did at the last battle…"

I winced, then tightened my grip on her silently.

"I'm… so happy…" she sniffled. "I thought… you'd forgotten…"

"So did I…" I murmured. "But, um… we probably shouldn't be doing this so close to the school…"

Aigis looked up at me, confused. Then she realized what I was getting at and let go of me quickly. "Oh, um… I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Aigis." I smiled at her. I held out my hand to her. "C'mon. Let's go back to the dorm."

She smiled back, then gently took my hand. As we silently walked back to the dorm, our fingers semi-unconsciously laced themselves together.

* * *

Somehow we apparently managed to get back to the dorm before anyone else, so I just snuck Aigis up into my room. I had her sit on my chair while I sat on my bed and sketched a picture of her. It took quite a while to get it to look the way I wanted it, but once I was finally happy with it I showed it to her. She gasped when she saw it, so it must've really impressed her. She set the sketchbook down on my desk, then lamented the time. I told her not to worry about it, and that she could spend the night in my room again. She liked the prospect, but still snuck up to her room to change into something else to sleep in while I changed into my own sleepwear. When she came back down, she was in a slightly loose set of sky blue pajamas, and you'd better believe she was completely ADORABLE.

We snuggled up and she fell asleep with her head tucked into the crook of my neck as we cuddled on the bed. I fell asleep listening to her quietly breathing. I smacked my alarm to shut the fuck up the next morning and just laid next to Aigis for about an hour before she finally woke up. We sat up in bed and made quick plans to spend the day together(Because it's Valentine's Day and even if it wasn't there's no reason not to), then she scurried up to her room to get changed while I hopped into the shower. Once I was done and dressed, I threw my scarf from Andre around my neck and went downstairs, placing my hat on my head as I entered the lounge. I was surprised nobody else was awake, but kinda shrugged it off as I left the dorm with Aigis.

I honestly still wasn't quite sure what to do first as I walked down the street with her, but I was pretty much content to just wander the city. And we did, actually. Just sort of aimlessly strolled around. It was really cloudy so I was kinda hoping for some snow, but that didn't seem very likely. We passed a random store and I actually stopped. There was a scarf on display in the window on a mannequin. Normally I don't really take an interest in stuff I see in windows, let alone clothes, but when I saw it I instantly thought it would look good on Aigis, so I asked her to wait for me while I went in and bought it. She had no idea what I was up to until I came back out and draped the scarf around her neck. It was light blue with gold trimming on the ends, and it really did look good on her.

As we resumed our stroll, there was a small bit of silence between us before Aigis suddenly spoke.

"Roy?"

I looked over at her. "Yeah, Aigis?"

"I was just thinking…" she began. "Many things have happened since this all started. Not all of them were good, but… thinking about them now, I'm actually feeling a little… nostalgic, I believe."

"You know, you're right." I agreed with a bit of a laugh. "A lot has happened. Honestly, back in April when I first got here, if someone told me that I'd end up fighting monsters for basicly my entire school year, I'd have called them a moron and walked away. Or maybe punched them for being stupid, I'm not sure."

"Do you have a particular moment you liked more then the others?"

I smirked. "You mean aside from when you told me you love me?"

"W-Well… yes…" she replied with a slight blush.

"Hah, alright… lemme think for a sec…" I said, folding my left arm over my chest while holding my chin with my right hand. "Eh… Probably the time I was showing you how to snipe at Ryoji with playing cards and I ended up firing one hard enough to knock him into the bushes at school." I grinned. "That was funny."

Aigis giggled a little. "I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd be thinking about him."

I cringed. "Me either. Honestly, I still hate the guy. In fact, if there's one thing I regret, it's that I didn't kick him down a flight of stairs, if only to see exactly how funny it would be to hear him bitching the whole way down." I grinned again. "Ah man, just thinking about that makes me wanna laugh…" I sighed and shook my head then looked at Aigis. "Does that make me a bad person?"

"I don't think so." She said. "I think I would find it funny as well."

I laughed a little as we kept walking, my mind wandering a little.

"Um… Roy, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When… did you first realize you were in love with me?"

I froze for half a step, then kept moving.

"You remember the typhoon? The night you snuck into my room?"

"Yes, why?"

"I heard you come in that night." I told her. "That was when I realized how I felt about you."

Aigis stopped in her tracks and seemed to stare at me.

I stopped and looked back at her. "What's wrong?"

"You…" she began, her voice wavering a little. "You felt that way about me… for that long…?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I did."

"So…" Aigis started blushing. "When you kissed me that night in October…"

I felt my face heat up as I rubbed my neck a little. "It was a spur of the moment thing, really. I kinda figured that I may as well while I had the chance, seeing as how I wasn't sure how you felt about me at the time…"

"But… What would you have done if I didn't…"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe given up? Can't say for sure." I smiled. "But hey, that didn't happen, so why worry about it?"

She smiled back. "You're right. That was… rather silly of me."

I laughed as we resumed walking. Not a lot of people out today, from the looks of things. Kinda odd, but oh well.

It was quiet between us for a few more minutes till I got curious about something.

"Say, Aigis…"

"What is it, Roy?"

"On my birthday, when you woke me up, you were wearing that costume you said you got from Yukari…" I began. "Why'd you do that? Not that I didn't like it, I'm actually wondering where you got the idea to do that…"

"Oh… well…" she stammered, beginning to blush again. "I wanted to do something you'd like, but I was having trouble thinking of anything, so I went to Yukari-san for advice."

I blinked. "Yukari?"

Aigis nodded once. "Yes. I asked her what something nice to do for someone you like on their birthday might be. She suggested an admittedly peculiar style of dress and make up."

Eyebrow. "Peculiar?"

"I believe she referred to it as 'ganguro', and claimed that, because of your American upbringing, you would have liked it."

Ganguro…? Wait, that's that creepy weird thing where Japanese chicks bleach their hair, hose themselves down in fake tan spray, and overall look like something out of some kid's nightmares about monster clowns. Yeesh… wait a sec… "Why didn't you go along with that then?"

"Yukari-san was busy at the time, so I went to Fuuka-san to ask for assistance." Aigis explained. "When I told her about all the things I would need, she asked wait I was going to use it for. When I told her, she found it a little bit funny. I asked her why, and she insisted I didn't need to go to those lengths to do something nice for you. I then asked her what she thought I should do, and she suggested something simpler that I'd seen you react well to before."

Eyebrow again. "And that lead to you in a maid costume… how?"

"I asked her if blushing as a positive response, and she said it was."

…Huh. That… actually, I'm not sure what to think about that except yay Fuuka, you unintentionally countered some bad advice from Yukari that she likely gave on purpose to sabotage Aigis' chances of wooing me before you could, which was far too late because that had already happened. Fuckin' Yukari. "I see…" I smiled. "And she was right, too. You don't need to go through a lot of trouble for me."

Aigis smiled back. "I will be sure to remember that, Roy."

* * *

We chatted some more about other stuff we remembered as we continued our stroll, and somehow we ended up at Paulownia Mall. I'd intended to take Aigis to Changall Café, but that was before I spotted a certain baseball-hat wearing friend of mine and his redheaded companion talking near the fountain in the middle.

"Hey, Junpei!" I called out as I approached him with Aigis.

"Huh?" Junpei and Chidori looked in our direction "Oh, hey Roy." Then he noticed Aigis. "Hey, you two goin' out all of a sudden." he grinned at me. "Roy, you sly dog!"

Eyebrow. "All of a sudden? Junpei, I've been dating Aigis for almost two months."

His jaw almost fell completely off his face. "Whoa, seriously?"

I nodded. "Seriously."

Junpei gave an impressed whistle. "Damn, dude. How'd I miss that?"

"I believe it is because you were more interested in Chidori-san then Roy-san's personal life, Junpei-san."

He blushed a little and rubbed his neck while Chidori giggled.

"Yeah… you're probably right…" He shook his head once. "So, anyways, what were you guys doing?"

I shrugged. "I was thinkin' we'd just hit the café for a little while, why?"

"Junpei and I were discussing spending time at Mandragora." stated Chidori, indicating the karaoke shop.

"Hey, you two wanna join us?" asked Junpei with a grin. "The more the merrier, after all!"

I looked at Aigis. "That okay with you?" She smiled and nodded. I smirked, then looked back at Junpei. "Alright then, let's go for it."

* * *

"So who wants to go up first?" Junpei asked as he was flipping through the songs on the Karaoke machine in our booth.

"I might, but lemme see what songs they got…" I replied, peeking over Junpei's shoulder.

No… nah… lame… Oh, whoa! "Hey, stop for a sec!"

"What?"

I pointed at one of the songs. "Junpei, we totally have to do a duet on that one."

He gave me a weird look. "What, you 'n me?"

"Hell yeah!"

He thought for a second, then shrugged and grinned. "Alright, let's go for it man!"

* * *

"You ready?" I asked Junpei as the two of us stood with microphones in hand.

"Yeah! Hit it!"

Chidori hit the button to start the song.

_"Don't stop, don't stop, we're in luck now~!"_ we sang. _"Don't stop, there's so much to be found~! We can find paradise, all we have to do is go, GO, free your soul~!"_

"Mysteries abound, made of a deep energy~…" ("Energy~")

"Foes all around, but I will go, fearless and free!" God damn, Junpei has a good singing voice. "I'll give you strength, you give me love! That's how we live~!" ("That's how we live~!")

_"My courage won't fade~… If you're with me, my enemies will never win~!"_

The two of us struck a moderately awesome back to back pose.

_"We will fight for love and glory~! We will live to tell the story~!"_

We held up our fists infront of our faces(or at least I did, I dunno about Junpei). _"There is nothing we can't live through~! Nothing ever dies, we will rise AGAAAAIN~!"_

_"Don't stop, don't stop, we're in luck now~! Don't stop, there's so much to be found~! We can find paradise, all we have to do is GO~!"_

I love the ending chorus bit here. _"Don't stop, don't stop, we're in luck now~! Don't stop, there's so much to be found~! We can find paradise, all we have to do is go, GO, free you soul~! DRAGON SOUL~!"_

Short song is short, but that was great.

"I never knew you could sing that well, Junpei-san…" noted Aigis with a dumbfounded expression. Chidori was likewise shocked, but in her case she was almost speechless.

The man himself just sorta chuckled uneasily and rubbed his neck. "It's not like I practice or nothin', I just do what comes naturally…"

"Dude, with a set of pipes like that could be a voice actor for anime or something!" I said. "I'm serious man!"

"Ya think so?"

"Oh hell yeah. It'd be awesome!"

* * *

Once we'd all finished lavishing praise upon Junpei, everybody else took a shot at singing. Chidori had a good voice as well, while my opinion of Aigis' singing ability can be summed up as 'chorus of angels' because god DAMN, her voice is beautiful. Even moreso when singing.

We spent a few hours doing karaoke with Junpei and Chidori before we parted ways. Aigis and I just sort of found a nice spot to cuddle for a while before we headed back to the dorm.

The next day was admittedly a little dull, and Yukari barely said anything to me at all. Not sure if she's still sore about me rejecting her or because I just up and vanished all day on Sunday. Could very well be both. Things stayed that way until Thursday, when I found Mitsuru standing near the school bulletin board by herself after school.

"Hey senpai." I greeted.

"Hm…?" Mitsuru looked at me. "Oh, hello Fortune." She looked at me with concern. "Are you alright? You don't look well…"

Shit, it's getting harder to hide it. "Just a little tired. Didn't sleep well last night."

"I see…" She nodded slowly. "Well, make sure you get some rest tonight then." She turned to leave, then stopped. "Actually…" she looked back at me. "If you don't mind, could we go somewhere to talk? I have some business to take care of later on, but I'd like to speak with you until then."

"Sure thing." I replied.

Mitsuru smiled. "Thank you. Let's go to the student council room, then."

* * *

"…This room brings back memories." Mitsuru began as we entered the council room. "I was only away for a little while, due to the exams…"

I hummed in response as we walked over to the windows. I'd forgotten that's where she disappeared to with Akihiko for most of the week.

"The results won't be posted for a few weeks, but I don't have any doubts that I passed."

"Me either." I commented. "I mean, you're the top student in the school."

Mitsuru chuckled. "Thank you, Fortune."

"So, gonna be a University student this spring, huh?" I asked as we gazed out the window.

She nodded. "Yes. This will be one of my last chances to see the view from here." She sighed. "I don't have much time today. All the members of the head family are gathering for a briefing session."

"I thought the Group was doing better after the whole deal thing with the Development. Something go wrong?"

"No." She shook her head. "It's just another business meeting, although from what I understand Lusnati will be bringing his children with him to introduce us formally."

Oh hell. "Please dear god get me a copy of the security footage. That will be priceless."

Mitsuru laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Awesome."

We stood in silence for a little while.

"…Soon, I'll be saying my farewells to the dorm." Mitsuru began. "I doubt I'll be able to pack my things quickly. Anything could bring back memories… A book, a picture, a piece of clothing…"I bobbed my head a little. "I know what you mean."

"My senior year seemed short, but very…" She paused for a moment. "Full. It went by so quickly…"

I smirked. "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end." I turned to look at Mitsuru. "And you can't plug your ears or cover your eyes."

Mitsuru gave me a curious look. "That's certainly an odd way of putting it."

I shrugged. "A kid I knew told it to me once. It was a long time ago."

"I see…" she murmured, then she glanced at her watch. "Well, I should be going soon. I have things that must be done, to secure a future for the Kirijo Group and myself."

I grinned. "Does that future include Akihiko?"

"Wh-What?" Mitsuru stammered, blushing furiously. "H-How did…!"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, senpai, but I'm pretty sure that if anyone looked closely enough, they could easily tell you have a thing for him." I relented. "Don't worry, I haven't gone and shot my mouth off about it or anything. Just… don't be surprised if you announce that you're gonna marry him and only one or two people are shocked."

"I-I see…" She looked away, still blushing. "I-It's time for me to get going. I'll see you later, Fortune."

"Later days, Mitsuru-senpai."

* * *

So as Mitsuru scurried out of the Student Council Room, I rounded the corner and ended up bumping into Chihiro. Almost literally.

"Oh, Roy-san…" She began with a small smile that quickly faded. "A-Are you okay? You don't look so good… You should get home and rest before I gets worse…"

"Nah, I'm fine." Damn it all, even Chihiro noticed. "I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh…" she blinked, then fidgeted. "Um, actually… can I talk to you…? Or are you busy?"

"Nah, I'm free. What'd you want to say?"

"Oh, w-well, it isn't much, but…" she stammered slightly, then she turned her head to look away and her expression darkened quickly.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at this flyer here…" began Chihiro, pointing at one on the wall. "'The history of passionate love between teachers and students'…"

"What in the hell…?" I looked at the flyer myself. "Oh for fuck's sake, that's not right!"

"I agree!" she huffed. "People are free to fall in love with each other and there's nothing bad about it! I can see why it would be a problem if it was between a teacher and a student, but…" She scowled. "That doesn't give them the right to make fun of it like this."

"Damn right!" I agreed. Chihiro's righteous fury is infectious apparently. "We should do something about it!"

"I'm going to write a protest letter to the school paper." She said with a curt nod.

"Want any help?" I asked.

Chihiro smiled and shook her head. "No thank you. I'll be alright on my own."

"Okay, if you're sure, I'll let you get to that, then." I replied with a nod.

"Wait, Roy-san…" she began before I could walk away. "Thank you very much."

Eyebrow. "What for?"

"For helping me." She smiled again. "Because if you, I've been able to make up my mind. Next year… I want to join the Student Council, too… Because…" she blushed slightly. "The things that showed me the way to change myself were the Student Council… and you…" A determined fire burned in her eyes. "So… I want to push myself harder."

"Well hey, that's great!" I said with a grin. "Just don't overdo it, okay Chihiro?"

"I won't." She replied as she began to turn around to leave. "Well, please excuse me, Roy-san. I should get going."

"Alright. Later Days!"

* * *

I had nothing else to do after school, so I went back to the dorm. The next day, I bumped into Fuuka after school.

"Oh, Roy-kun…" She blinked in surprise, then looked at me worriedly. "Are you okay…? You look so pale…"

God damn it… "I'm fine, Fuuka. It's nothing serious."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should see the nurse…"

"No, really, I'm fine, Fuuka." I am not setting foot in the nurse's office after what I heard happened to Hayate. Weird ass concoction Edogawa cooked up damn near put him in a coma. And I don't even wanna know what'd happen to me in my condition…

"Well, maybe you could at least get yourself double checked?" she suggested. "Oh, and why don't I go with you? I was about to go to the faculty office, and the nurse's office is next door."

I cringed a little, then shrugged. "Eh, why not? I'm not in a rush. Let's get going."

So the two of us headed to the Faculty Office, chatting about stuff along the way. When we got there, guess who was just coming out of the office? Fucking Ekoda.

"Hmmm? Yamagishi?" He asked. "What are you doing outside the faculty office?"

"U-Umm… I-I want to start a tech club…!"

Wait, what?

"Tech gloves?" Ekoda asked with a raised eyebrow. "You mean technician's gloves? Well, I think you'd have to go to a hardware store for those…"

"Um… not 'tech gloves'…" she corrected. "A tech club! Like, a club all about technology and electronics!"

Ekoda gave her a flat look. "…You want to start a club?" he groaned. "Ugh… why is Yamagishi so troublesome?" He shook his head. "Look, it's almost March. Can't you at least wait until April?"

Urge to throttle rising…

"Huh?" Fuuka was taken aback somewhat. "B-But I really want to get started on it now! I'll do my best to find members…" She fidgeted. "Um, so, do I have your permission to start a club…?"

"What? You mean to say you don't have any members yet?" Ekoda asked with a scowl. "Then it's not even worth discussing."

"She DOES have a member, Sensei." I growled. "I'm standing right here."

Ekoda paled a little when I spoke. I'm not even sure how he didn't notice me. Oh yeah, and apparently I still beat the shit out of him before summer vacation. That was awesome.

"R-Regardless, you can't start a club without at least five members." he stated nervously. "Now then, I must be going…"

Ekoda hurriedly walked past the two of us. I sighed, then looked at Fuuka who was staring at me with awe.

"You… You really want to join my club…?" she asked.

I grinned. "Hell yeah. Sounds like fun."

Fuuka's face lit up. "That's great! I was actually planning on asking you, but this is even better! Thank you, Roy-kun!"

"You're welcome." I replied.

She sighed a moment later. "I thought… liking electronics made me strange. I always kept it to myself, because I thought it was strange for a girl to be interested in that…"

"It's not strange, it's just who you are." I said. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

Fuuka nodded once. "You're right. And… I don't want to hide it anymore. No more pretending to be someone else to my friends. I've decided to be strong and let everyone know who I really am. Even if people think I'm strange, that's okay…"

"You're no more strange then anyone else." I laughed. "I'm sure you'll make lots of new pals."

"I agree. In fact, that's why I wanted to start the club." She said. "I thought that maybe other people like that sort of thing as well, and if so, I want a way to talk to them. But I admit, it makes me a little nervous…"

"Don't worry so much, it'll be fine." I grinned again.

"Thank you, Roy-kun." She stopped to think for a second. "Um, will you stay in Art Club next year?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I didn't really show up much because it wasn't really much more then me drawing like I usually do, just at school."

"I see…" murmured Fuuka. "Well, I'd still like to be in a club with you next year! Maybe even the same homeroom."

"That'd be cool." I nodded slowly. "But, hey, I probably shouldn't keep you busy. You've got more members to find, right?"

"You're right!" she exclaimed. "I need to make some posters… and other things, too! W-Well, see you later!"

"Later Days, Fuuka!" I called out as she scurried off, then I sighed to myself once she was gone.

It hurts to lie like that.

* * *

Saturday came and went, and Aigis and I planned to go on another date on Sunday. I woke up a little early, so once I was dressed I sat down infront of my computer and turned it on.

I better leave something so they know what to do.

With a sigh, I switched on my laptop's webcam.

"Hey guys."

* * *

Aigis almost came into my room near the end of the recording, but thankfully I managed to deflect her. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I saved the video file. I'll have to be sure to leave a note so they find it.

I was out the door soon enough, and glad to be spending more time with Aigis. For the hell of it, I took her to a sort of fancy-ish restaurant. Cost a hell of a lot, but oh fucking well. I had a simple, nice time with the girl I love and that's really all that mattered to me.

Monday rolled around and I found Akihiko near the spot the Persimmon tree used to be until they moved it at lunchtime.

"Yo." I greeted as I walked over. "Sup?"

"Oh, hey Roy." he said as I stopped next to him. "It's been a while since I last saw you at school like this."

"Heh, yeah." I agreed. "What you doin' over here?"

"I'm feeling a little nostalgic." he admitted. "So I'm taking a look around the school. This is gonna be one of my last chances before graduation, after all."

"True." I nodded, a pang of regret shooting through me at the mention of graduation.

Aki let out a weary sigh. "It might have felt like forever at the time, but now it seems that those years went by in a flash…" he laughed. "All I did was box for all three years…" He scowled in confusion suddenly.

Eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Is that really… all I did…?" He asked, sounding perplexed, then his expression softened. "No, wait…" he looked at me with a grin. "We had some good times hangin' out together this year. I enjoyed those. Hell, if we hadn't been in the same dorm, we might never have even met."

I shrugged. "You never know, man. Fate likes to deal out wild cards every so often."

"Yeah, you're right." agreed Akihiko. "The world seems mysterious that way…" He sighed. "I'm going to be leaving the dorm soon. I won't be there to watch your back all the time, but that doesn't mean I'll abandon you."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"And you'll keep track of Shinji next year, right?"

I winced, but hid it well. "I will."

"He was supposed to graduate with me, too, but after the incident…" He sighed. "I guess it can't be helped."

"Hey, take it easy." I patted him on the shoulder. "He'll be fine. He's got Hamuko breathing down his neck to, ya know."

Aki laughed. "That's true. I'd have never pegged him as ending up like that."

"Like I said, fate likes to deal out wild cards sometimes." I stated simply, stretching my arms over my head for a second. "Well, I'm gonna head back to class now. Later Days, Akihiko."

"See you later, Roy."

* * *

"Hey, Roy!"

I looked up from my seat after school. Aigis had already left, apparently having something to do with Fuuka and Chidori.

"Sup Junpei?" I replied as my hat-clad best friend stood next to my desk.

"You wanna go to Hagakure today dude?" He asked. "I've got a sudden craving for their special bowl."

"That depends, are you paying?"

"Yikes, no way. I don't have the extra cash right now." He laughed. "Besides, we're best friends! No mooching off of pals!"

"Hasn't stopped you before."

"Hey!"

I laughed. "I'm kidding man. Can't you take a joke?"

"Yeah yeah, wise guy…" He grunted, then he laughed again. "Ha, but man, I never imagined that I'd become such good friends with you when you first transferred here."

"That was up until, what? The my third day here before we hit it off famously?"

"Ha, yeah. Pretty much." replied Junpei, putting his hands behind his head. "And hey, lemme know if you're havin' a hard time, okay? I'll be there to back you up in a heartbeat."

I grinned. "Thanks man." Brofist.

"Oh yeah, have you heard?" He asked. "All the new teachers that're coming in April are female."

"I bet Kenji was stoked up until Rio started hitting him with something."

"You'd better believe it, dude!" He laughed. "But none of that matters to me. I've got a girl I care about…"

"Yeah, your girlfriend." I laughed suddenly. "Ah man, I just remembered a conversation we had back at the beginning of the year…"

"Really? Dang, you've got a good memory. When was it?"

"Uh, one of my first days here." I told him. "You came up to me and were all like 'Dude, today's awesome. The sun's shining, we're young, what more do you want?' and I said 'A girlfriend for starters', then you cracked up."

"Ha! Oh yeah, I remember that…" he chuckled. "Man, and look at us now… A couple a bona-fied lady killers."

"I wouldn't really say 'lady killers', but yeah. The two of us have like, what, two of the hottest girls in school as our girlfriends?" I asked. "I'd be jealous of me, too."

"I think that's how it goes." Junpei replied with a shrug. "I stopped really payin' attention to the popular opinion of the girls at school once I met Chidori."

"I hardly ever paid attention to begin with." I laughed. "But hey, that's just how I roll." I stood up. "Anyways, you still wanna go to Hagakure? I'm in a generous mood, so I'll buy."

"Seriously?" I nodded in reply. "Dude, awesome!"

* * *

So me and Junpei ended up heading out to Hagakure and had a bowl, then he split to go do something else once we were done. I headed over to Naganaki Shrine again, and found Koromaru sitting infront of the shrine.

I spent a little time with him, then headed back to the dorm.

A couple days later, I ran into Hamuko and Shinjiro as I was leaving school.

"Heya Roy-kun!" Hamuko greeted as I approached, then she looked a little worried. "Are you okay? You don't look so good…"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I asked, even though they're all perfectly in the right to be a little worried. "I'm fine, really. Okay, maybe a bit tired, but it's the end of the school year so it's not that big of a deal!"

"Still, take it easy Roy." warned Shinjiro. "Don't wanna pass out in the middle of something important, now do ya?"

I sighed. "Yeah, yeah…" I looked back at them. "So how you two been doing?"

"Well enough." Shinji replied with a shrug. "Still sucks I've gotta repeat my senior year…"

"Aw, cheer up Shinji-kun!" cooed Hamuko. "We might be in the same class!"

"Great, so I'll have to baby sit you in school just to make sure you get your work done."

Hamuko puffed out her face and pouted. "Shinji-kun, that's not very nice! I do very well in school, thank you very much."

"Yeah, whenever you're not day dreaming about Shinjiro without a shirt on."

"Roy-kun!" She glared at me with a slight blush. "I-I don't do that! Besides, I've seen you staring at Aigis-chan instead of paying attention as well!"

Oh god damn it, Hamuko… "Okay, so maybe I'm the pot calling the kettle black, but I was just kidding! Jeez…"

"Haha, it's fine, Roy." Shinjiro laughed. "And hey… I never really got the chance to thank you for keeping an eye on the idiot for me while I was in the hospital."

"Which idiot? Her or Akihiko?"

"Both."

"Hey!"

"Well, you're HIS idiot, Hamuko." I smirked. "And you know it."

"Yeah…" She sighed as she clung to his arm.

Shinjiro groaned. "You had to go and say it, didn't you?"

"Eyup. It's funny to me sometimes."

He glared at me. "How funny would it be if I broke your nose?"

Err… "That would suck. A lot."

"That's what I thought." He scoffed. "But seriously, thanks for watching out for Hamuko and Aki for me. I really appreciate it."

I grinned again. "Anytime, Shinjiro. And hey, you're working on not being a loner stick in the mud, right?"

"Of course he is!" Hamuko said proudly. "After all, I'm here to make sure of that!"

"You got that right…" he griped. "I'm still not used to the whole confiding in others thing, really… But, I'm pretty sure I can get better at it if you guys help me out."

"Damn straight you can!" I stated, smacking him on the shoulder. Holy fuck, how have I never noticed before now that I'm taller then Shinjiro? Jeez…

Shinji winced. I must've hit a little to hard. "Sorry…"

"It's okay, man. After all, I can take punches from Aki and come out okay." He laughed. "Anyways, I'll see you at the dorm, Roy. I've got a date with the moron."

"Shinji-kun! Stop being so mean to me!" Hamuko whined.

I just laughed to myself as the two of them walked away, with Shinjiro trying to pry his arm free of Hamuko's death grip.

* * *

The remainder of the days up until the third of March were largely uneventful, except for one thing I was becoming increasingly aware of.

I'm running out of time.

I sighed to myself as I walked to school. Only two days till graduation…

"Yo!"

I stopped and looked over my shoulder as Junpei came bounding up to me. Must've slept in this morning and Chidori beat him to school.

"Damn, it's cold." He griped. "But of course, you never miss a day of school." He sighed nostalgically. "Man, can ya believe this year's already over? We're practically seniors now." He nodded his head slowly. "Just one more year…" He looked at me. "Ya think anything interesting will happen?"

"You never know when fate will deal you a wild card, Junpei." I replied with a shrug.

He winced a little. "Well, seeing the current seniors makes me wonder…" He sighed again. "Seems like all they frickin' do is study. Talk about boring…" He groaned. "Is that gonna be us next year?" He paused and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I dunno…" replied Junpei. "I just… feel like I'm forgetting something…"

I looked closely and sure enough, I could sense Trismegistos moving around. I smirked to myself a little as the two of us continued walking towards the school building when we spotted Aigis looking at us from behind a tree.

"Hey, is that girl looking at us?" asked Junpei, then he leaned forward a little. "Wait, isn't that your girlfriend, Roy?"

"Mmhm." I replied.

"Dude, talk about lucky! I can't believe I never noticed her before!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Yukari as she semi-ninja'd her way up from behind us. "She lives in the same dorm as us."

"Seriously?" Junpei exclaimed in shock. "Uh… What's her name, then?"

Yukari shrugged. "I dunno."

"How can you two not know her name?" I asked. "She sits right next to me!"

"I dunno, man!" said Junpei quickly. "I must've just forgot…"

"Hey there!" Yukari called out, waving over at Aigis. "Are you looking at us? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Aigis replied before she scurried off.

"I wonder what her problem is…" commented Yukari.

"Who knows?" Junpei said with a shrug. "And besides, it's always crazy in the dorms this time of year, with so many people coming and going. Oh yeah, did ya hear? Akihiko-senpai's movin' out. Ya know, the Captain of the boxing team?"

"I know who he is, but I haven't really talked to him." admitted Yukari. "Of course, all the graduates are leaving, even Kirijo-senpai."

"Ms. Student Council President…" Junpei noted with a bob of his head. "She's in our dorm too, huh?"

"That she is, my friend." I said. "I'm still amazed I'm the only person who's actually spoken to everyone at the dorm. You'd think you guys would be more friendly…"

Yukari just sort of hmph'd as the started walking again, then stopped once the two of us noticed Junpei was lagging behind.

"Hey, Yuka-tan…" he began, then he shook his head. "Uh… never mind. Forget it."

"Aw, come on now…" She griped. "Don't gimme that."

"Um, well…" He began again. "Do you remember how we became friends? I mean, don't take it the wrong way. I was just thinking…"

"Well, it's not like we're best friends or anything…" stated Yukari. "So I guess it just kinda happened."

"Yeah…" he agreed slowly. "I guess so."

"…It IS kinda weird, actually, now that I think about it." she admitted. "But, I can't really explain why. Anyway, that girl-"

Yukari was cut off when the bell rang.

"Oh crap!" I said in unison with Junpei before the three of us bolted into the building.

* * *

After school I had a short talk with Junpei and I was smirking in my head. He's starting to notice the gaps in the fake memories or something, which might have to do with why I'm getting a more 'awake' feel from his Persona. I took a look at everyone else and they were about the same. I guess the Personae remember the promise as well and are trying to break loose to remind everyone.

The next day was almost completely uneventful, apart from another conversation with Junpei near the spot Ryoji used to sit at. He couldn't remember Ryoji at all, so he was kinda confused when I brought him up.

I ended up going back to the dorm with Aigis, but I really wasn't doing so hot so I went to bed really early. I woke up late on the fifth to the sound of Aigis knocking on my door. Once I was dressed and ready, we headed to the school. I was feeling a little more sluggish then I had the entire month, but I kept pressing on.

I've got a promise to keep, and I won't let anything fucking stop me from keeping it.

We made our way up to the roof of the school and I sat down next to Aigis. I didn't even bother putting on my uniform, so I'm wearing my trademark outfit. Thankfully Aigis didn't question it.

"The wind feels so nice…" She began after a little time had passed. "This is my first time experiencing spring. But, this season will eventually pass…"

"Every season does." I commented absently.

There was silence between us for a few seconds.

"After fighting alongside you, and facing the world's end…" Aigis began again. "I finally began to understand… what it means to live."

I looked at her curiously.

"Thinking for yourself… not running away… accepting the inevitable…" She nodded. "All things eventually come to an end… every living thing will one day disappear… Only by accepting this can one discover what they truly want… what the meaning of their life will be…"

I smiled wearily and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to me.

"I understand now why I was so tormented by my lack of strength." Aigis continued. "Protecting others became more then just an order I had to obey. I wanted to do it for my own reasons. I realized this once I decided to try and prevent the Fall." She looked at me. "When I thought I might never see you again, something else became clear to me." She smiled. "What I wanted most."

I felt Aigis' left arm snake around my waist.

"And so, I made up my mind." She leaned her head on my shoulder. "I decided that I would continue to protect you. I want to be your strength. I know I'm not the only one who can do this… but that's okay." A tear tolled down her cheek. "My life will be other living if it's for this reason…" Another tear came down the other side of her face before she embraced me tightly. "Thank you…"

"Hey…" I pushed her away a little, then wiped away her tears with my hand. "Don't cry, Aigis."

"You're right." She agreed. "What am I doing? I understand now, so I should be happy…"

"Heyyy!"

I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Good ol' Junpei.

"Everyone…!" Aigis turned back to me, then her eyes widened. "Roy, what are you…?"

"I wanna lie down." I said, placing my hat on her head. "Is that okay?"

She smiled again and nodded. "Of course…"

"Thanks Aigis." I hugged her once, then kissed her before I laid down and rested my head on her lap. I felt the gentle spring sunlight warming my body.

"I realize now that I have friends as well." She continued. "And… You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life." She gazed down at me affectionately before she gently ran her hands through my hair. "Sometimes, all you need something simple… Like someone to take care of." A happy smile graced her lips, causing me to smile as well. "I'll keep on living no matter what, so that I can protect you…"

"Thank you, Aigis." I sighed happily. It's hard to stay awake…

"Thank you for everything…" she replied, then she titled her head to the side a little. "You must be tired… You can close your eyes. I'll always remain here by your side…"

I could hear the pounding of footsteps and frantic, happy voices getting closer.

"The others will be here soon…" Aigis noted.

"Yeah…" I agreed. "And Aigis…?"

She looked at me curiously. I smiled.

"I love you."

She smiled back. "I love you too, Roy."

I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, and slowly closed them.

"Don't worry… I'll always protect you…"

* * *

Author Notes - And so the Story of A Fool Named Fortune comes to a close. I'll see all you people again soon enough for Answer of Aeon, then again after that for Norimoto Style.

-Story Stats-  
Started: December 2nd, 2010  
Completed: May 20th, 2011  
Total Word Count(Without Author Notes/Reviews): 334410 Words  
Page Count(Ten-point font in Microsoft Works Word Processor): 805 Pages

That's a lot of pages, huh? Well, Later Days everyone! I hope you enjoyed the story!


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